Iraq whitewash #3456

Who would you want to investigate if the Government had lied about going to war in Iraq? Columbo? CSI? Jonathon Creek? If your answer was 4 Knights of the Realm and a Baroness, congratulations you have won and can now become the Government of the UK.

The Government announced earlier this year, at long last an inquiry into the decision to invade Iraq would be conducted. In true New Labour fashion however, the people leading the Inquiry were all picked by the Prime Minister. As Craig Murray points out on his blog, several of these “independent minds” were on record as backing the war.

Its a unique case of the guilty selecting the judges they want to put them on trial. Those leading the inquiry are also, along with being Knights and a Baroness, Privy Counsellors. The Privy Council itself is an undemocratic medieval hangover, so quite suited to the kind of “investigation” the government would want.

It’s likely there will be damning testimony against the Government throughout the Inquiry. There simply was no case to answer on Iraqi WMD and this was known before the invasion itself. The head of the UN weapons inspections Scott Ritter was vocal in opposing the invasion for example, arguing correctly that no Iraqi weapons programme existed.

Nevertheless this is an Inquiry and not a trial. There is no penalty for lying at any point in this inquiry. The most likely result will be some “recommendations” to the intelligence services to pay more attention in future, but that the UK Government just made an honest mistake and it was probably Saddam’s fault anyway. Or as one foreign office official, Sir William Ehrman put it in an unfortunate turn of phrase, “Saddam was black and he had to prove himself white. He did not do so”.

As fellow civil servants the honourable Knights and Baroness, will cover up for the establishment like all Privy Counsellors are trained to do.

Even these guys would be far more damning Judges than them…