{"id":299442,"date":"2017-03-17T09:05:15","date_gmt":"2017-03-17T08:05:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/chilcot-2-0-another-iraq-war-inquiry-could-be-launched-if-new-facts-emerge-say-mps\/"},"modified":"2017-03-17T09:05:15","modified_gmt":"2017-03-17T08:05:15","slug":"chilcot-2-0-another-iraq-war-inquiry-could-be-launched-if-new-facts-emerge-say-mps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/chilcot-2-0-another-iraq-war-inquiry-could-be-launched-if-new-facts-emerge-say-mps\/","title":{"rendered":"Chilcot 2.0? Another Iraq War inquiry could be launched if new facts emerge, say MPs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>        If new evidence comes to light on the legality of the 2003 war in Iraq it could be used to justify a further inquiry into the conflict, according to an influential parliamentary committee.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Members of the Public Administration Committee said on Wednesday that the 2016 Chilcot Inquiry had failed to \u201c<em>provide closure<\/em>\u201d on the war which had left an \u201c<em>indelible scar<\/em>\u201d on UK politics.<\/p>\n<p>In a new assessment of the 2-million-word report by Sir John Chilcot and his panel, the committee made a number of recommendations.<\/p>\n<p>These include looking at ways the six year investigation could have been sped up, how the \u201c<em>culture of challenge<\/em>\u201d in government could be improved and how the National Security Council (NSC) could be given more powers.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"900\" height=\"506\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/qL7IgCMNC5E\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Noting that many MPs who supported the war had since changed their minds, the committee said it felt parliament should have been \u201c<em>more critical and challenging<\/em>\u201d of the arguments for war, centrally those made by then-Prime Minister Tony Blair.<\/p>\n<div class=\"arcticle__read-more read-more\">\n<p>Read more<\/p>\n<p>    <a class=\"read-more__link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.rt.com\/uk\/352457-iraq-families-tony-blair\/\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n                    <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"read-more__cover\" src=\"https:\/\/img.rt.com\/files\/2016.07\/thumbnail\/5790a9e6c36188aa728b45b1.jpg\" alt=\"Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair \u00a9 Neil Hall\"\/><br \/>\n    <\/a>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Chilcot Inquiry was widely condemned for taking too long to report back. It began in 2009 and only published its findings in 2016. It cost taxpayers \u00a310 million (US$12.3 million).<\/p>\n<p>Critics were also split on the inquiry\u2019s usefulness. Some said it was rightly harsh on Blair-era ministers, while others, including the families of soldier killed in the war, lamented the fact it had no legal power and was solely focused on what lessons could be drawn from the conflict.<\/p>\n<p>In late 2016, the Iraq War Families campaign group successfully crowdfunded \u00a3150,000 to hire lawyers to pore over the vast document in search of legal grounds to bring a civil case against Blair.<\/p>\n<p>The committee of MPs was cagey about whether there would be another investigation on top the Chilcot Inquiry and several others including the Hutton Inquiry.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<em>After taking advice, we do not feel that Chilcot or any other inquiries provide a sufficient basis for the committee to conduct such an inquiry.<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"arcticle__read-more read-more\">\n<p>Read more<\/p>\n<p>    <a class=\"read-more__link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.rt.com\/uk\/349624-chilcot-britain-iraq-diaspora\/\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n                    <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"read-more__cover\" src=\"https:\/\/img.rt.com\/files\/2016.07\/thumbnail\/577be22ac46188cf698b4599.jpg\" alt=\"\u00a9\u00a0Reuters\"\/><br \/>\n    <\/a>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201c<em>However, we think Parliament should be prepared to establish such an inquiry into the matter if any new and relevant material or facts emerge.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The cross-party group of MPs identified key failings in parliamentary processes, some of which were also raised in Chilcot.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<em>It is no longer acceptable that the present arrangements should continue without stronger means to prevent key ministers, or even the whole Cabinet, from being side-lined,<\/em>\u201d they said.<\/p>\n<p>Committee chair Bernard Jenkins MP reserved particular criticism for Blair over his assurances to US President George W. Bush.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<em>When Tony Blair wanted to write that letter to President Bush saying \u2018we will be with you whatever,\u2019 officials tried to stop him but he ignored them,<\/em>\u201d he told the BBC.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<em>They said cabinet had not been consulted but he said \u2018send it anyway.\u2019 That should not be allowed to happen.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Via <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rt.com\/uk\/380984-iraq-war-chilcot-inquiry\/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=RSS\">RT<\/a>. This piece was reprinted by <a href=\"http:\/\/rinf.com\">RINF Alternative News<\/a> with permission or license.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If new evidence comes to light on the legality of the 2003 war in Iraq it could be used to justify a further inquiry into the conflict, according to an influential parliamentary committee. Members of the Public Administration Committee said on Wednesday that the 2016 Chilcot Inquiry had failed to \u201cprovide closure\u201d on the war [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":264070,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[519],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-299442","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-newswire"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=299442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299442\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/264070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}