2010-Jan-27 - The Iraq war inquiry: will it call Blair to account? |
| If you sit in the public seats at the, one of the first things you notice is that the ¬witnesses have their backs to you. There is a large television screen on one side puma boots of the surprisingly small, cold room, showing their testimony live; but you can watch that from home on the official website, so at first it feels a little disappointing to attend one of the long sessions and be presented, in the flesh, with only a rear view of the invaders of From behind, one ¬important man in a suit can seem much like another. And yet, as the air conditioning hums and the politicians and civil servants and soldiers lay out their elaborate ¬defences, it becomes clear that this perspective does have its compensations. Each witness sits at the same bare desk, only a few feet away, in an exposing black chair like a Mastermind contestant. And each gives off their own little physical signals, deliberately or not. A seemingly smooth senior official from the Ministry of Defence describes the withdrawal of British forces from Iraq as "orderly, efficient and entirely peaceful", while jogging his feet ¬furiously under the desk. Lieutenant ¬General Barney White-Spunner, bulky and uniformed, commander of those forces during some of the fiercest ¬fighting, answers questions respectfully enough; but puma UK his fingers drum ¬impatiently on an armrest. Jonathan Powell, former chief of staff and Iraq confidant, sits with theatrical ease, lanky legs and feet splayed; yet he rocks his ankles from side to side when challenged. Alastair Campbell, Blair's even closer Iraq confidant, casually half-stifles a yawn as he begins his testimony – but also kneads the side of a finger with a tense thumb. Tomorrow, when Blair himself appears as a witness, he might be best advised to sit very still. Beyond the witnesses, facing the public, sit the five members of the ¬inquiry panel. Since the inquiry was announced last June – the fifth official British investigation in less than seven years into the 2003 Iraq war – it has ¬often seemed that these inquisitors are being judged as much as the witnesses. The inquiry is much more ambitious than its predecessors: covering the hugely controversial build-up to the war, the conduct of the conflict itself, and the often chaotic aftermath – a total period of more than eight years, during which 179 British military personnel and an estimated 100,000 Iraqi civilians were killed. The pressure for a definitive reckoning has been building ever since the 2004 Hutton and Butler reports so spectacularly failed to provide one. Since 2006, the year before Gordon Brown became prime minister, there had been regular hints from him and his allies that a Brown administration would differentiate itself from Blair's by properly examining what happened in Iraq. Yet on the puma shoes sale day the Chilcot inquiry was unveiled, the Conservative leader, David Cameron, dismissed it as "an ¬establishment stitch-up". That opinion has been widely shared since. Bailey Button UGG uk ugg boots UGG Ultra Short |
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