Nov 23 2009

What is it like to have a free press instead of a veal pen?

Leaked documents reveal No 10 cover-up over Iraq invasion

Richard Norton-Taylor, guardian.co.uk

Sunday 22 November 2009 20.43 GMT

  • Inquiry to hear how Blair hid true intentions for war
  • Military ‘ill-prepared’ for aftermath of invasion

Military commanders are expected to tell the inquiry into the Iraq war, which opens on Tuesday, that the invasion was ill-conceived and that preparations were sabotaged by Tony Blair’s government’s attempts to mislead the public.

They were so shocked by the lack of preparation for the aftermath of the invasion that they believe members of the British and US governments at the time could be prosecuted for war crimes by breaching the duty outlined in the Geneva convention to safeguard civilians in a conflict, the Guardian has been told.

The lengths the Blair government took to conceal the invasion plan and the extent of military commanders’ anger at what they call the government’s “appalling” failures emerged as Sir John Chilcot, the inquiry’s chairman, promised to produce a “full and insightful” account of how Britain was drawn into the conflict.

h/t Chris in Paris & Americablog

“Oh for a pen of living fire.  A tongue of flame.  An arm of steel.

To rouse the people’s slumbering ire, and teach the tyrant’s heart to feel.”

Whitfield, James M.– How Long.

8 comments

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    • RUKind on November 23, 2009 at 10:21
    • #

    Maybe he can bring Bush and Cheney with him.

    • TMC on November 23, 2009 at 15:37
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    is a party to the International Criminal Court. This could get very interesting. The European Union shunned Blair as it’s first permanent president of the European Council, choosing the center-right Herman Van Rompuy of Belgium. Prescient, perhaps?

    • Miep on November 24, 2009 at 11:25
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    I find myself more and more gravitating towards torture press. The Dog wrote a good one the other day.

    I’m getting more into working on the intersection between homeless people and jailing people. I find this of interest.

    It’s been taking me some time to find my voice as a blogger. I’m still working on it.

    Torture, homeless, prison. It’s an interesting intersection, if one is concerned about abuse.

    News of the Abused. I find myself inventing terms.

    I hate being bitter.

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