Archive for 'Evidence' Category
Dr David Kelly – not to be mentioned at Inquiry
by Andrew Mason Writing for The Mail on Sunday, Miles Goslett reports that Carne Ross, formerly the first secretary to the UK Mission at the UN with responsibility for Iraq, has now spoken out about being restricted from discussing the late Dr David Kelly CMG whilst giving evidence to the Iraq Inquiry. A former British [...]
Learning the lessons without Chilcot
By Chris Ames It is, to say the least, unfortunate that the tenth anniversary of the invasion will come and go without a report from the Inquiry and of course reflections have already begun ten years on from the biggest of the anti-war marches. The Inquiry website currently features a list of excuses as to [...]
Ten years on – the reflection begins
by Andrew Mason As we now approach the tenth anniversary of the March 2003 invasion of Iraq it appears that there is likely to be some significant re-examination of some of the supposedly “solid” evidence that became the major casus belli for this now recognisably illicit military intervention – namely that Iraq remained in possession [...]
An open letter to the Information Commissioner
by Andrew Mason Following the non-release by means of veto of the March 13 and 17 2003 cabinet minutes, Dr Christopher Lamb, the originator of two Freedom of Information requests seeking the release of these records, has now written an open letter to the Information Commissioner. This letter asks the Commissioner to commission his lawyers [...]
Will the LibDems join the cover-up?
by Chris Lamb On 4 July, the Information Commissioner’s Office issued a Decision Notice (as yet unpublished) for my second Freedom of Information request for the Cabinet minutes of 13 and 17 March 2003 to be disclosed. This upholds the ICO’s previous Decision Notice of 2008 and the ruling of the Information Tribunal (January 2009) [...]
Blair silent on FOI review
by Andrew Mason This short piece by Nigel Morris in today’s Independent should be of interest to many of the Digest’s regular commentators, in particular those who make FOIA requests themselves. It would appear that former PM Tony Blair could not find the time to personally fulfil a request by a Parliamentary committee to give [...]
The March 12 Blair/Bush conversation
by Andrew Mason Rajeev Syal, writing in today’s Guardian, tells us that “Whitehall sources” have confirmed that the Attorney General may continue to block the release of the transcript of Tony Blair’s (Wednesday) March 12 2003 telephone conversation with George Bush, in which it is alleged that France’s President Chirac’s refusal to support a second [...]
Calls for Inquiry recall over Campbell claim
by Chris Ames The Independent on Sunday reports that: MPs demanded an emergency recall of the Chilcot inquiry last night after new revelations that Tony Blair blocked the Government’s most senior lawyer from explaining to Cabinet the legality of the war in Iraq. The story is based on the new version of Alastair Campbell’s diaries, [...]
Countdown to Iraq
by Andrew Mason Alastair Campbell is scheduled to release Volume Four of his diaries on 20 June. This further edition, entitled ‘The Burden of Power: Countdown to Iraq’, is the final planned part of his series, although this new volume apparently indicates that he continued to keep a diary beyond 2003, the entries from which may [...]
The End Game
by Chris Ames As reported by the Guardian and elsewhere, the Information Tribunal has backed the Information Commissioner in ordering that some of what Tony Blair said to George Bush in a phone call on 12 March 2003 should be disclosed. The Foreign Office is considering what to do next. The decision is here. It [...]