The Chilcot Report

alan280170

But still better than what state we left Iraq in, so if I was Iraqi I know what I would rather of had.

fluxo

This British Iraqi disagrees:

Iraq was destined for chaos – with or without Britain’s intervention | Hayder al-Khoei

Enki

Indeed.   
Its terribly sad for UK serviceman and their families who died and have been maimed, however, at least there is a choice in joining the armed forces in the UK and by signing up, the chances of being in a warzone is increased. Whatever our losses pales into insignificance compared to those of the Iraqi people, just hope they can forgive our democratically elected government and us a nation from running away from the mess.

Cliff

The Chilcot report was thorough, expensive and for the first time we saw a few memos from Blair to Bush.

We knew Blair and Bush wanted to 'take out' Saddam. America was going to do it anyway and Blair said he was going to support him (whatever). In the aftermath of 9/11 and there was an appetite for  a show of strength.
Blair knew regime change was unlawful, so he needed other reasons. But the general public in both countries were taken with the idea of getting rid of this dictator. There was a lot of support for Blair, and the war, which is not being conveyed in the news today. This is a distortion.

So what did we learn from Chilcot that we didn't already know?

Sonic67

Agree on this but a few things.

1. The US was going in anyway. As I understand it from us they just required "support". We could have just sent some transport or refuelling aircraft, we could have just sent some ships and medical personel. It was Blair's insistence we sent in ground troops. The US never asked for or wanted that level of support.

2. The reason for the public being behind the invasion was partly down to sexed up dossiers. Again down to Blair, Campbell etc.

3. The levels of kit we had. We had inadequate levels of body armour, helicopters and armoured vehicles. Neither was there a rush to procure them. Blair didn't want us to look like war was inevitable so the nod to go was given at the last minute. The Snatch has come in for a lot of criticism. It had uses. If you were having a shura with local village elders it doesn't help if you turn up in an IFV. What was needed was a range of vehicles so you could match vehicles to tasks. It wasn't till Afghan when this finally happened.

Sonic67

It needed something down that could be used as evidence. A confirmation. There had been previous investigations. This is the biggest yet. It may now be referenced in civil actions. I did wonder if it might turn out to be a whitewash. Seems not. It's uncovered a lot. Blair's "with you, whatever" sticks in my mind right now.

Cliff

Evidence for what? Taking Blair to court?
I hope the report was more than that.

What a contrast to the public mood on the other side of the pond. There, Bush is now respected, partly because they have had Obama.  Iraq war vets, are also held in high regard and no one would suggest they died in vain.  

Back to Chilcot, it was supposed to be a report so we can learn lessons.
As you point out, one of the biggest lessons is that we should not go to war if we don't have the right equipment. Or we need time to acquire the equipment if we think war is imminent.

But we always say this...lessons will be learned.. but do we ever learn?
Since then we have we have been to Afghanistan, Libya, and failed for similar reasons Iraq failed. We did not go to Syria, probably due to what we learned in Iraq. Whether that decision was right, I have no idea!

SteakAndCake

Honestly, the people that prefer Bush over Obama are just racist.  I see it on my Facebook feed with a certain American demographic.  Same ones that truly think he's a Muslim (as if that's a bad thing) and think his wife is a transsexual.

Vets being held in high regard is just part of American Hero Warrior worship.  Doesn't really matter what they do, where they fight, or why they fight, they are heroes and you're a filthy terrorist loving pinko to suggest otherwise.

It's an interesting shift from the 70s when soldiers returning from Vietnam were spat at and called baby killers.  I'd suggest the shift is down to a fall in investigative journalism and the rise of entertainment news.  They give people the news they want and not the hard uncomfortable truth.

Sonic67

It's 2.6 million words. Even the fastest reader is going to take over a week to get through it. I think it's a huge amount more than that.

Cliff

What's all this with the racist tags? You can't make generalisations like that. Maybe on your face book page - I've no idea. The US voted for Obama twice. But he did not live up to expectations and was a disappointment to many.
Obama is also partly to blame for the Iraq fiasco, because he pulled the troops out leaving chaos.