Archive for November, 2009
New witnesses announced
by Andrew Mason
The following is a list of witnesses announced today. They will be giving evidence throughout the forthcoming period, both before Christmas and after the New Year. It is to be noted that it seems no-one is being called to give evidence on WMD issues during this phase of the Inquiry.
Sands criticises Inquiry
by Chris Ames
In tomorrow’s Guardian, Richard Norton-Taylor leads on David Manning’s confirmation that Blair told Bush in April 2002 that Britain would join in with regime change, if it came to it. But his story also reports criticism of the Inquiry, citing three key documents to which it didn’t bother – or dare – to [...]
The Inquiry pulls its punches
by Chris Ames
Here’s what the Guardian’s Jonathan Steele – who is a true foreign affairs expert and was actually asked to participate in the Inquiry’s public seminars – made of today.
“It is easy to second-guess the Iraq inquiry and, as one watches it unfold live on the internet, to think of all the questions its [...]
Taken for a ride
by Chris Ames
Sir David Manning spent the afternoon trying to redefine “regime change”, unchallenged by the Iraq Inquiry panel. To square the circle of both contemporaneous evidence and witness testimony that shows that Tony Blair agreed to regime change in Iraq in March 2002, Manning claimed that this actually meant getting Saddam Hussein to disarm. [...]
Scarlett next week
by Chris Ames
Latest: Sir John Scarlett is to appear at the Inquiry next week – for an hour and a half!
See all next week’s witnesses
Calls grow to publish letter
by Chris Ames
This morning’s papers are still covering the news of attorney general Goldsmith’s letter to Tony Blair in July 2002, which allegedly warned that the proposed war to achieve regime change would be illegal. I say “allegedly” because we haven’t of course seen the letter.
The Daily Mail’s article has a strong emphasis on calls [...]
Questions for Sir David Manning
by Chris Ames
On Monday 30 November, the Inquiry’s only witness, will be Sir David Manning, who was Tony Blair’s chief foreign policy adviser in the run-up to the invasion and subsequently UK ambassador to Washington.
Manning was allegedly the author of a leaked memo to Tony Blair of 14 March 2002, noting that Manning had [...]
My high (low) points of the week
by Andrew Mason
I watched pretty much all of the hearings as they happened this week. My overriding first impression was just how cosy and relaxed the proceedings often seemed to be. There were times where Sir John’s input seemed to actually answer the questions rather than to formally pose them. Mandarinese is a relatively new [...]
Show us the documents – Clegg
by Chris Ames
The Observer says that:
“Gordon Brown is facing demands to change the rules of the Iraq inquiry this weekend amid fears that the most explosive documents explaining why Britain went to war will not be made public.”
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has written to Gordon Brown to say that the government’s powers to restrict [...]
Show us the document
by Chris Ames
I wrote last week that the leaking to the Telegraph of documents on the war put the Inquiry, which has so far published no real written evidence, at risk of becoming a sideshow. Now the Mail on Sunday has identified a letter written by Lord Goldsmith, the attorney general, on 29 July 2002, [...]