HOW MUCH YOU KNOW ABOUT IRAQ WAR? Chilcot Report (the Iraq Inquiry) exposes Tony Blair

IMPORTANT POINTS

·         2.6 million Words in the bloated report authored by Sir John Chilcot and his committee.

·         Commissioned by the then British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in 2009, the inquiry has examined the run-up, conduct and aftermath of the 2003 Anglo-American invasion of Iraq in exhaustive detail.

·         The George W. Bush-Tony Blair combine helped transform Iraq from an autocratic, though stable, state into a miserable, divided wreck of a nation

·         Sadly, the lessons of Iraq remain unlearned. We saw this in 2011, when Muammar Qadhafi was eliminated in Libya.

• It was the third inquiry into the Iraq war. The previous ones, the Butler and Hutton reports, were widely denounced as whitewashes.

·         Chilcot’s service is to gather a vast amount of testimony and publish secret documents, especially private communications from Tony Blair to George W Bush, 

·          “If I knew then what I know now, of course I would never have taken Britain to war in Iraq.” 

·         In Syria, Western states and their regional allies have not deployed their own troops in significant numbers, but have supported proxies — many of them linked to extremists — to topple Bashar al-Assad’s regime.  Russia and Iran have supported Damascus through their own proxies, or by giving the Syrian government crucial air cover. the civil war, which has provided fertile ground for the rise of monsters such as IS, Al Nusra and others. Mr Assad is indeed a ruthless autocrat, as was Saddam Hussein before him in Iraq.

·         Hearings: 24 November 2009 – 2 February 2011  Report finalized and published : 6 July 2016

·         Henry Kissinger’s position that UNSC Resolution 1551 passed in 2004 legitimised the ‘occupation’ of Iraq through its mandate to establish a governing authority in Iraq. The Chilcot Report, with its unambiguous conclusion that a fresh UNSC resolution explicitly authorizing the use of force was indeed necessary for any lawful and legitimate intervention in Iraq.

·         Another important lesson to be drawn from the Chilcot Report by our government and judiciary is to develop awareness about UN-based legislation, especially the Chapter VII resolutions passed by the Security Council, which has now also become a global legislative forum. This is critical because our foreign policy goals and objectives must also be aligned with these UN international legal instruments.

·         Article 27 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, 1969 pursuant to which domestic law will yield to international law in cases of conflict between the two.

·         deaths of 179 British soldiers

·         Blair said such breaches had been committed but Chilcot said: “The precise basis on which Mr Blair made that decision is not clear.” He also said Blair changed his case for war from focusing on Iraq's “vast stocks” of illegal weapons to Saddam having the intent to obtain such weapons and being in breach of UN resolutions.“That was not, however, the explanation for military action he had given before the conflict,” Chilcot said.

·         “He is convinced on  two points: the threat is real; and success against Saddam will yield more regional success,” Powell said, Former US secretary of state Colin Powell on March 28, 2002

Sources: 

Compiled from various dawn articles and the news articles with special mention of the the guardian article which prominently explained aftermath and law points of Chilcot findings.