TONY BLAIR TO APPEAR AGAIN BEFORE IRAQ WAR ENQUIRY

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair will appear at the Iraq Inquiry for a second time, on January 21.

Tony Blair

Tony Blair's first appearance at the Iraq Inquiry was on 29th January last year

Mr Blair's hearing will start at 9.30am and is scheduled to last around four-and-a-half hours.

Sir John Chilcot announced in December that he would recall the former Prime Minister.

It is thought that Sir John and his panel were concerned about gaps and possible inconsistencies in his evidence.

Jack Straw, who was foreign secretary at the time of the invasion, cabinet secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell and Lord Turnball, his predecessor, have also been asked to return.

Lord Goldsmith, the former attorney general, is among those the panel has asked to submit written evidence.

Mr Blair gave evidence to the inquiry on January 29 last year when it was thought, though never confirmed, it would be his only appearance.

The inquiry said the 60 public seats in the hearing room in the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, Westminster, had been allocated through public ballot.

A third have gone to family members who lost loved ones in the conflict.

Lets hope they do a better job of him this time.......TW4T in the first order, murderer.

buildersbum wrote:Lets hope they do a better job of him this time.......TW4T in the first order, murderer.

Hi buildersbum, I read a while ago that Blair had twice lied to the House which is a Cardinal sin. Did you know he is only in the U.K. one week in 4? the rest of the time he is earning a Fortune as an after dinner speaker in the U.S. yet the british Taxpayer is picking up the £6 million tab for his Security while
abroad??????? I notice the Attorney General who advised Tony that the War with Iraq was Legal is allowed to give written evidence....I wonder why?

Panda wrote:

buildersbum wrote:Lets hope they do a better job of him this time.......TW4T in the first order, murderer.

Hi buildersbum, I read a while ago that Blair had twice lied to the House which is a Cardinal sin. Did you know he is only in the U.K. one week in 4? the rest of the time he is earning a Fortune as an after dinner speaker in the U.S. yet the british Taxpayer is picking up the £6 million tab for his Security while
abroad??????? I notice the Attorney General who advised Tony that the War with Iraq was Legal is allowed to give written evidence....I wonder why?

Panda......please dont tell me of things like that, him and that wife of his imo are just a pair of money grabbing ar**holes, but I really do believe in KARMA!!!, he can't do all that damage while he was in office, and just walk away.

The latest News is that the Enquiry suspects that when Tony Blair visited George Bush"s Ranch he gave an undertaking that Britain would stand with
the U.S.in the invasion of Iraq. John Chilcot, Chairman of the Enquiry is furious that he will not have access to cables between both Leaders which are
relevant because this could damage the British relationship with the U.S. My God, it really makes me feel evil that yet again the Government spares more
thought to "relationship" than justice and how will the parents of all the Brave Soldiers feel knowing their Sons and Daughters fought a bogus War, not
to mention the Iraq people. Shame on the lot of you and the pretence that we live in a Democracy. I just hope Wikileaks has the cables and releases
them.

I share your sentiments Panda and it seems Wikileaks will be the only way the truth will ever be known.....

http://news.aol.co.uk/main-news/story/blair-bush-notes-will-remain-secret/1521216

Blair-Bush notes will remain secret18 January 2011

Bush Blair Iraq inquiry
Chilcot Notes sent by Tony Blair to former US president George Bush will not be published by the official Iraq War InquiryThe head of the civil service has refused to allow the official inquiry into the Iraq War to publish notes sent by Tony Blair to former US president George Bush.

Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell denied requests for exchanges between the former prime minister and Mr Bush about Iraq to be declassified and released.

Inquiry chairman Sir John Chilcot said: "The inquiry is disappointed that the Cabinet Secretary was not willing to accede to its request.

"This means that in a narrow but important area the inquiry may not always be able to publish as fully as it would wish the evidential basis for some of its comments and conclusions."

Sir John wrote to Sir Gus last month asking him to authorise the declassification of extracts from notes sent by Mr Blair to Mr Bush and records of discussions between the two leaders.

He highlighted the fact that Mr Bush and Mr Blair - as well as the former prime minister's chief of staff Jonathan Powell and communications chief Alastair Campbell - had revealed details of some of their talks in their recent memoirs, and said the inquiry's protocol on releasing documents supported disclosure.

Sir John said in his letter: "The inquiry regards it essential in order to fulfil its terms of reference, to be able to chronicle the sequencing of discussions on Iraq between the UK prime minister and the president of the United States."

The inquiry chairman also revealed that the committee recently took evidence in a closed session from David Pepper, the former head of the UK's signals intelligence agency GCHQ.

A Cabinet Office spokeswoman said: "All HMG (HM Government) documents have been made available to the inquiry. The issue is one of publication. Exchanges between the UK prime minister and the US president are particularly privileged channels of communication.

"The Cabinet Secretary is of the firm view that the public interest in publishing these letters is not outweighed by the harm to the UK's international relations that would likely be caused by his authorising their disclosure. This is in line with the published protocol. The majority of the inquiry's declassification requests have been met. But there are important public interest principles at stake. These are recognised in the protocol."

Thanks for the info Malena, they don"t call him Teflon Tony for nothing do they!!!

Panda wrote:
Thanks for the info Malena, they don"t call him Teflon Tony for nothing do they!!!

Sadly you are right Panda.... Hopefully all his corrupt double dealing and lies will come back to haunt him.

Seems our Tony is not going to have such an easy ride. Lords Wilson and Turnbull, Cabinet Secretaries at the time, have testified they did not sanction
the Iraq invasion and there was no proper discussion on the matter. The suggestion is that the Cabinet did not even have a proper debate.it was cut and
dried by Tony and the MP"s jusr went along with his decision.

I"m not sure about the pecking order but apparently Cabinet Secretaries are considered very senior.

Two former Cabinet Secretaries have disputed Tony Blair's claim that top ministers knew military action against Iraq was likely a year before the invasion.


Prime Minister between 1997 and 2007, Tony Blair has given evidence twice



The former Prime Minister told the Iraq Inquiry on Friday that his cabinet were aware from early 2002 that they had endorsed a policy that would probably lead to an attack on Iraq.

But Lord Wilson, who was Cabinet Secretary from 1998 until 2002, and Lord Turnbull who was his successor, have both told the inquiry that this was not the case.

Lord Wilson claimed Mr Blair told his cabinet in a meeting in April 2002 that "nothing was imminent".

Echoing evidence given by other Downing Street officials, Lord Wilson described a lack of official Cabinet meetings in those crucial 15 months before the invasion in March 2003.


I don't think anyone would have gone away thinking they had authorised a course of action that would lead to military action.

Lord Wilson's evidence to Sir John Chilcot's inquiry

No 10's approach was, he said, "a little different", comparing it with the mechanics of government under Margaret Thatcher.

"Thatcher would have discussions on the sofa, but decisions went to a cabinet committee," Lord Wilson said. "If she was advised to go to a committee, she would."

Numerous witnesses have claimed that under Mr Blair's leadership, the Cabinet was not routinely consulted on key decisions and commitments that were being made regarding Iraq.

Lord Wilson told the inquiry: "I don't think anyone would have gone away thinking they had authorised a course of action that would lead to military action."



Lord Wilson and Lord Turnbull both gave evidence



His successor, Lord Turnbull, claimed that Mr Blair continually put off Cabinet discussions about the possibility of attacking Iraq in the months before the March 2003 invasion.

"The Prime Minister basically said: 'well, they [his ministers] knew the score.' That isn't borne out by what actually happened."

Lord Turnbull added: "None of those really key papers [options papers about Iraq and the threat posed] were presented to the cabinet which is why I don't accept the former Prime Minister's claim that they knew the score."

On Friday, when asked whether or not he had ensured his cabinet were fully informed, Mr Blair said: "I don't think there was any doubt about that at all.

"If you went back, unless people were not listening to the news or reading the newspapers, which is not my experience of the Cabinet ministers, it was the issue the entire time."