Archive for 'Secrecy' Category
The Dowse memo is a disaster for the Inquiry
by Chris Ames
In the Observer today, Jamie Doward and I reveal that in March 2002 Tim Dowse, then head of the Foreign Office’s Non-Proliferation Department, wrote a memo to a special adviser to Jack Straw in which he said that the early draft dossier on Iraq’s alleged wmd would have to be “reviewed” so that [...]
New Iraq Dossier draft published on the Digest
by Chris Ames
I am today publishing a previously unseen draft of the September 2002 Iraq dossier, which was produced in June 2002 by the CIC, the propaganda unit that wrote the February 2003 “dodgy dossier”.
This is another document that the Iraq Inquiry has concealed.
Read more on the website of Index on Censorship.
Inquiry stuck in a quagmire
by Chris Ames
I’ve just posted this piece on the Index on Censorship website:
“The Iraq inquiry’s public hearings ended last week, possibly for good. It is clear that Sir John Chilcot and co know the truth but, stuck in a quagmire of their own making, are unable to tell it. ”
Read the whole piece
Missing the point
by Chris Ames
Carne Ross has given me some comments in response to his piece in the Observer about how the government tried to obstruct his evidence to the Inquiry:
I note that the FCO has said that it won’t comment on what I said, and that it has full confidence in the inquiry; and [...]
Ross alleges a cover-up
by Chris Ames
In the Observer today, former diplomat Carne Ross tells how government officials tried to undermine and restrict his evidence to the Inquiry and alleges that the Inquiry itself is being denied access to key documents.
Ross describes how the Cabinet Office asked him to remove from his written statement a reference to a memo [...]
Cameron contradicts Clegg
by Chris Ames
I have just, very belatedly, come across this written parliamentary answer from David Cameron to a question from Plaid Cymru MP (and parliamentary leader) Elfyn Llwyd:
Elfyn Llwyd: To ask the Prime Minister whether the Chilcot Inquiry on the war with Iraq will be able to withhold publication of evidence on grounds other [...]
Carne Ross statement
The Inquiry has published a statement by Carne Ross, today’s first witness. The statement has been redacted and includes a comment from Ross that he was warned by Inquiry officials not to reveal the contents of classified documents.
More on his evidence later.
More questions than answers
by Chris Ames
The Inquiry’s announcement that it has seen 35 witnesses in secret – or in “private” as it coyly puts it – raises a lot of questions. Most people accept that it will be necessary in some cases but can it be justified on this scale? Or is it a way for the [...]
The Inquiry succumbs to secrecy
by Chris Ames
I’ve just published this piece on Comment is Free:
Now we have a better idea of what we are not being told. The Iraq inquiry has published a list of witnesses seen in private (as it insists on describing secret hearings) during the period when things went very quiet during the election. There were [...]
Inquiry announces the names of witnesses seen in Secret
The Iraq Inquiry announces the names of witnesses seen in private
Iraq Inquiry press release
The Iraq Inquiry has now heard from 35 witnesses in private. This means that by the end of the this round of public hearings, the Inquiry will have heard from more than 140 witnesses. Sir John Chilcot made clear at the start [...]