For those of you who don't know, today I got tickets to see Tony Blair give evidence to the Iraq Inquiry. I was in the afternoon sitting from 2pm - 5pm. The venue was the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Center in London, just opposite Westminster Abby. When I arrived there were loads of people, and loads of police! The people were protesting with various signs, and there was a stage where people were giving small talks and encouraging general chanting. So I got in the line and I saw none other than BBC's Nick Robinson, on the phone. I smiled at him, and would like to hope that he smiled back! Also there was the BBC's Emily Maitlis. (When you watch the news at all hours as I do you know who these people are). So I stood in line for a good 45 minutes and finally got inside. Only to be greeted by airport style x-ray machines and one of those metal detector things. There was yet again a really visible police presence.
Once inside I sat down and talked to a few people beside me then the afternoon session started. I was in the auditorium with around 200 people or so, and similar to a cinema we watched a screen which showed a live un-censored and non-delayed feed of the proceedings the floor above us. I made a few notes on various topics of question which I have written chronologically. Please note is evidence from Tony Blair and not me.
The legality of the war.
Prior to the war there was a lot of question with the legality of the war. The former Attorney General (AG), Lord Goldsmith was very vocal in his opinions to Tony Blair (TB) and changed his mind frequently. The AG saw the Iraq War from a legal viewpoint, and took on the view at first that the war could not be considered as legal. Therefore, the UK decided to get a UN resolution passed known as resolution 1441. The wording of 1441 was rather "iffy" and as a result there were many things which both the American and British governments could twist to suit their needs. Not happy with 1441 the AG asked for a further resolution as it was the safest legal course, but in principle was happy that 1441 allowed for a war should it be necessary. The way 1441 was seen, was that it was Saddam's last chance to surrender to the UN, with the failure to comply with UN weapons inspectors a breach of the resolution, which could allow war. Long story short...the AG was left out of much of the meetings with regards to Iraq until then end, where he felt some of his advice was not welcomed by TB. Despite this, TB was desperate for the AG's approval as it would mean that he would cover his legal bases, and thus sent the AG to the USA where he discussed the legality of the war with his American counterparts. Upon return, the AG changed his mind saying that there is a case should he have to go to court, but he is not that confident. Nevertheless, TB decided to go to war.
Planning and preparation.
The inquiry then went on to discuss the planning and preparation steps taken by Blair and the British Government with regards to the war. When they came in power, Blair pushed through a rule (NOT a law) that, should a war happen, he will give at least 6 months notice so troops can prepare. In the case of the Iraq war they were given 2 months. He was questioned upon this, and answered that he didn't want to give the presumption of war, given his indecisive view on Iraq. When asked why he wanted to go to war, other than the WMD threats etc Blair also mentioned it was in the interest of the UK to go to war as a matter of national security. When the decision to go to war was made in January 2003, TB was confident that the UK's troops were ready and was given assurances by the armies logistical experts that everything will be okay. Despite this, equipment arrived late in Iraq when needed. When dealing with "phase 4" - the aftermath of the war, Blair took the advice from Shammi Chakrabati of Liberty, and decided to focus much of his efforts upon the humanitarian side of the war, as he wanted to avoid any humanitarian issues which arose. Despite this, the torture of Abu Ghraib prisoners came as a surprise to him, and he was quick to say the prison is mainly controlled by the USA. Other issues which the UK Government were worried about included; oil fields being set on fire and the use of chemical and biological weapons. Blair felt phase 4 was important as he believed you could not leave the people of Iraq, given that the UK went in to the country in the first place.
Rebuilding the country
When the rebuilding stage came together, the UN was very clear that they did not want a lead role in discussions and actions as they should remain impartial.
When rebuilding the country the British Government was faced with two issues:
1 - Iraq had a "broken" civil service.
2 - There was no planning for the role which Al-Qaeda and Iran played, which hindered development.
Blair went on to say that whenever you go in to a failed state, you should always assume the worse, due to a repressive nature, and also because the power has only been controlled by a few people. In Iraq the minority 20% of the Sunni population controlled society. One job of the UK/USA was to bring together the Sunni, Shi'a and Kurd people, something which they did with the new government formed. However, with pressure from Iraq and Al-Qaeda, this proved to be very difficult, as the Iranian people were intent on destabilising the mission in Iraq. As a result of the problems which the Iranian government posed previous to the war, Blair asked for a report on the Iranians. The report came back stating that the Iranians posed no threat to the war as Iran also wanted to get rid of Saddam Hussein, given the Iran-Iraq war. However, when the war started the Iranians proved to be a big threat. Blair simply stated later "security is what went wrong", when you try to provide people wreck it.
WMD.
When asked about the war, Blair suggested that he genuinely believed that there was WMD in Iraq. He said on a daily basis until 2004 they would get reports of WMD being in a certain area. However, he said, even if there were not any WMD, he would have still gone to war as Saddam posed a large threat if left there. If Saddam was left to do what he wanted, Blair predicted that there would be competition between Iran, in support of terrorist groups and nuclear weapons.
Responsibility
When asked about the issue of responsibility made the following points.
1 - We are responsible.
2-We should prepared for the long haul.
3 - There are issues with Iraq and Al-Qaeda.
Pre war, there were 25 cabinet meetings, and 28 ad-hoc meetings to discuss Iraq.
Blair concluded that he had no regrets on going to war, at which point he was heckled by a member of the audience.
My thoughts.
Overall, whilst I may not agree with a lot of what Blair did in Iraq and has said, I felt he came across as very confident and knowing what he had to say. There were elements of his personality which really showed though when he was talking, with some really passionate arguments/comments made towards Iraq, which were totally fascinating to watch and listen to. I was slightly unaware of some of the context of the questions, particularly on 1441, but found his comments on the issue, from what I could piece together interesting. I was disappointed with the questions which Chilcot and the panel posed, however, he made it clear that it was not a trial. There were lots of other things which the panel could have gone in to, and I feel they only touched upon important things. It will be interesting to see how Gordon Brown copes.
It was nice to see that at the end Blair was heckled, and upon leaving the QEII centre, the protesters were still out in force!
Overall, a very interesting afternoon with a few surprises, although I am slightly disappointed at some of the questions posed.
Shailyn Shah
29th January 2010.
Once inside I sat down and talked to a few people beside me then the afternoon session started. I was in the auditorium with around 200 people or so, and similar to a cinema we watched a screen which showed a live un-censored and non-delayed feed of the proceedings the floor above us. I made a few notes on various topics of question which I have written chronologically. Please note is evidence from Tony Blair and not me.
The legality of the war.
Prior to the war there was a lot of question with the legality of the war. The former Attorney General (AG), Lord Goldsmith was very vocal in his opinions to Tony Blair (TB) and changed his mind frequently. The AG saw the Iraq War from a legal viewpoint, and took on the view at first that the war could not be considered as legal. Therefore, the UK decided to get a UN resolution passed known as resolution 1441. The wording of 1441 was rather "iffy" and as a result there were many things which both the American and British governments could twist to suit their needs. Not happy with 1441 the AG asked for a further resolution as it was the safest legal course, but in principle was happy that 1441 allowed for a war should it be necessary. The way 1441 was seen, was that it was Saddam's last chance to surrender to the UN, with the failure to comply with UN weapons inspectors a breach of the resolution, which could allow war. Long story short...the AG was left out of much of the meetings with regards to Iraq until then end, where he felt some of his advice was not welcomed by TB. Despite this, TB was desperate for the AG's approval as it would mean that he would cover his legal bases, and thus sent the AG to the USA where he discussed the legality of the war with his American counterparts. Upon return, the AG changed his mind saying that there is a case should he have to go to court, but he is not that confident. Nevertheless, TB decided to go to war.
Planning and preparation.
The inquiry then went on to discuss the planning and preparation steps taken by Blair and the British Government with regards to the war. When they came in power, Blair pushed through a rule (NOT a law) that, should a war happen, he will give at least 6 months notice so troops can prepare. In the case of the Iraq war they were given 2 months. He was questioned upon this, and answered that he didn't want to give the presumption of war, given his indecisive view on Iraq. When asked why he wanted to go to war, other than the WMD threats etc Blair also mentioned it was in the interest of the UK to go to war as a matter of national security. When the decision to go to war was made in January 2003, TB was confident that the UK's troops were ready and was given assurances by the armies logistical experts that everything will be okay. Despite this, equipment arrived late in Iraq when needed. When dealing with "phase 4" - the aftermath of the war, Blair took the advice from Shammi Chakrabati of Liberty, and decided to focus much of his efforts upon the humanitarian side of the war, as he wanted to avoid any humanitarian issues which arose. Despite this, the torture of Abu Ghraib prisoners came as a surprise to him, and he was quick to say the prison is mainly controlled by the USA. Other issues which the UK Government were worried about included; oil fields being set on fire and the use of chemical and biological weapons. Blair felt phase 4 was important as he believed you could not leave the people of Iraq, given that the UK went in to the country in the first place.
Rebuilding the country
When the rebuilding stage came together, the UN was very clear that they did not want a lead role in discussions and actions as they should remain impartial.
When rebuilding the country the British Government was faced with two issues:
1 - Iraq had a "broken" civil service.
2 - There was no planning for the role which Al-Qaeda and Iran played, which hindered development.
Blair went on to say that whenever you go in to a failed state, you should always assume the worse, due to a repressive nature, and also because the power has only been controlled by a few people. In Iraq the minority 20% of the Sunni population controlled society. One job of the UK/USA was to bring together the Sunni, Shi'a and Kurd people, something which they did with the new government formed. However, with pressure from Iraq and Al-Qaeda, this proved to be very difficult, as the Iranian people were intent on destabilising the mission in Iraq. As a result of the problems which the Iranian government posed previous to the war, Blair asked for a report on the Iranians. The report came back stating that the Iranians posed no threat to the war as Iran also wanted to get rid of Saddam Hussein, given the Iran-Iraq war. However, when the war started the Iranians proved to be a big threat. Blair simply stated later "security is what went wrong", when you try to provide people wreck it.
WMD.
When asked about the war, Blair suggested that he genuinely believed that there was WMD in Iraq. He said on a daily basis until 2004 they would get reports of WMD being in a certain area. However, he said, even if there were not any WMD, he would have still gone to war as Saddam posed a large threat if left there. If Saddam was left to do what he wanted, Blair predicted that there would be competition between Iran, in support of terrorist groups and nuclear weapons.
Responsibility
When asked about the issue of responsibility made the following points.
1 - We are responsible.
2-We should prepared for the long haul.
3 - There are issues with Iraq and Al-Qaeda.
Pre war, there were 25 cabinet meetings, and 28 ad-hoc meetings to discuss Iraq.
Blair concluded that he had no regrets on going to war, at which point he was heckled by a member of the audience.
My thoughts.
Overall, whilst I may not agree with a lot of what Blair did in Iraq and has said, I felt he came across as very confident and knowing what he had to say. There were elements of his personality which really showed though when he was talking, with some really passionate arguments/comments made towards Iraq, which were totally fascinating to watch and listen to. I was slightly unaware of some of the context of the questions, particularly on 1441, but found his comments on the issue, from what I could piece together interesting. I was disappointed with the questions which Chilcot and the panel posed, however, he made it clear that it was not a trial. There were lots of other things which the panel could have gone in to, and I feel they only touched upon important things. It will be interesting to see how Gordon Brown copes.
It was nice to see that at the end Blair was heckled, and upon leaving the QEII centre, the protesters were still out in force!
Overall, a very interesting afternoon with a few surprises, although I am slightly disappointed at some of the questions posed.
Shailyn Shah
29th January 2010.
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