As he sits down to celebrate turning 70, a comprehensive picking over of his part in the Iraq war is probably the last thing President George W Bush is hoping for.
As noted in yesterday's snapshot, the Iraq Inquiry is supposed to publish their report July 6th.
Two things.
First, supposed to.
Supposed to.
The long delayed report could be pushed back yet again.
That wouldn't be at all surprising considering what's gone on. Gordon Brown was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom when this analysis/study of the Iraq War was authorized.
Second, who knows what it will be?
Most assume that, whatever it is, it will highly watered down after the years spent blocking the release of the report and allowing Tony Blair and others to have their input. (Blair was prime minister of the UK and he sold the Iraq War on lies.)
Natalie Corner (DAILY MIRROR) reports:
Sarah O'Connor whose brother Sergeant Bob O'Connor was killed in action when his plane was shot down in 2005, aired her concerns to Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid on Good Morning Britain today.
She became emotional as she described the effect her sibling's death has had on her and her family and hopes that the two million plus page report, that has cost around £10million, will give her and other families answers.
ITV
Sarah said her trust in Sir John Chilcot's report had 'eroded' over the long wait for it: "Although those terrorists took my brother they will not take me. Our dynamic shifted and we as a family imploded
“I lost my career. I too, as well as many other military families have post-traumatic stress disorder and I am a shadow of myself.
Chris Ames (IRAQ INQUIRY DIGEST) has long covered the topic (led on the coverage) and he offers:
So over two months to typeset a report that hasn’t changed, conveniently taking publication past the EU referendum.
It looks like the shabby fix after all.
And it may very well be.
Some are expecting a great deal from this report.
It's a bit like CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WARS. The film was overhyped from the start so when you see it and realize the film has no third act -- not even a real villain -- it sort of falls apart and you feel cheated.
Adam Taylor (WASHINGTON POST) offers:
Britain was the chief U.S. ally in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, a fact which later earned Prime Minister Tony Blair the nickname of "Bush's poodle." It had a high cost for Britain: 179 service personnel died from the conflict between 2003 and 2011, and many more were wounded. In recent years, there has appeared to be a growing consensus in Britain that the war was wrong. Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the opposition Labour Party, has stated that he wants to apologize to the "Iraqi people for the suffering we have helped cause" if he is elected prime minister. He's even suggested that Blair could face trial for the "illegal" war.
That's a bold statement, but many appear to support Corbyn's views on the matter. In one poll from 2013, 53 percent of those polled thought that the war had been wrong, while just 27 percent thought that the war was right. Forty-eight percent believed that Blair had deliberately misled the British public about weapons of mass destruction, and 22 percent believe that the former prime minister should be tried as a war criminal. (Other polls do seem to show that many Brits exaggerate the scale of the opposition to the war at the time, to be fair.)
The lengthy delays for the release of the Chilcot Inquiry have further added to the atmosphere of suspicion and recrimination about the Iraq War. But right now it's hard to say whether the inquiry's long-awaited release will help end the controversy surrounding Britain's involvement — or just add to it further.
Tony Blair or Bully Boy Bush or Hillary Clinton or any other public official who championed the illegal war being put on trial would be wonderful.
But it's a bit like going into CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WARS being told it is the best superhero film ever -- you're bound to be disappointed.
My guess?
It's going to be highly watered down.
Those of us familiar with the public testimony will notice whole sections publicly addressed have just been disappeared.
(When the Inquiry held public hearings, we covered it here in each day's snapshot -- we did that via the transcripts and via three friends who were covering the inquiry for the British press -- I would pour over the transcripts while on the phone with them discussing the events. I would then highlight what I felt was the most important take away as well as what they were arguing was the most important.)
It's been delayed too long for me to feel it's going to emerge telling the full truth.
I could be wrong and would love to be wrong on this.
But I'm not going to get my hopes up -- especially since it could yet again be postponed.
The following community sites -- plus Jody Watley -- updated:
Television
2 hours ago
Talking THE GOOD WIFE
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Jane Fonda's betrayal
2 hours ago
We talk THE GOOD WIFE
2 hours ago
Discussing The Good Wife
2 hours ago
The end of The Good Wife
2 hours ago
The Good Wife says goodbye
2 hours ago
Online book shopping
2 hours ago
Paradise Returns.
7 hours ago
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