Thursday 18 June 2009

Let's Have A Trial, Not An Inquiry

At long last Gordon Brown has initiated an inquiry into the Iraq War and we all shout 'yeah and about time' but what's this? It is to be held in private, by people with ties to the Labour Party and it will not apportion blame. What sort of half arsed inquiry is that then?
I can't speak for everyone else but i want blame apportioned and shouted from the rooftops and those blamed, metaphorically hung, drawn and quartered.
I don't want to see the likes of Sir Lawrence Freedman who wrote a memo on which Blair based a speech proposing war and Sir Martin Gilbert who stated that Blair and Bush may be seen as "akin to Roosevelt and Churchill" sitting on an inquiry team. I want experts such as top brass military, judges and human rights lawyers with no links to the Government passing judgement on those who made the decisions.
I want the full enquiry into how, why and when decisions were made to be made public and those responsible held accountable.
Unfortunately, looking at how Gordon Brown has set out his stall to hold this inquiry, we all know full well that we will not be told the whole truth and that there will be no accountability. It will just be another whitewash affair at an enormous cost to the taxpayer just like the Hutton inquiry.
So why are they bothering to have an inquiry at all? Let's hold a public trial. Put Tony Blair and the rest of them in a court, slap a Bible in their hands and let's hammer out who is to blame, whether it was legal and study the timeline of events before, during and after the invasion.
As has been proved time and time again, we can't trust the politicians to do the right thing and this is far too important for Gordon Brown to be allowed to hand over the whitewash to his friends on the inquiry panel.
Let's use good old British justice and do it properly.

2 comments:

Stan said...

As it happens, Lucy, if you want a trial rather than an inquiry, this is usually held in court under our legal system, with any outside comment during the process being regarded as sub judice.

On the other hand, you no doubt have in mind one of those revolutionary SHOW trials, where the the onlookers, whipped up by a complicit media, bay for the blood of the accused.

I can imagine you're getting out your knitting needles even now in anticipation..

Falling on a bruise said...

Put Tony Blair and the rest of them in a court

We agree.