TIME WE HEARD ?

I think it was in July, 2009 that the Chilcot Inquiry into the events leading up to the Iraq War was set up, although it was November of that year before the first witnesses were called.  Those open sessions went on until February, 2011 - over a year ago - so I wondered why we haven`t yet heard about the publication of the Inquiry`s Report.

It seems as though the process has been beset with `difficulties,` including an ongoing wrangle with Government Departments about the declassification of certain material, and problems with the turnover of the Inquiry`s support staff.   Nonetheless, the `good news` is that, having concluded the public hearings over a year ago, the written and oral evidence received by the Inquiry members `is currently being analysed` and the report being drafted.

The not so good news is that the co-operation of Government Departments might at best be slow and reluctant and then there is the problem that, if the Inquiry wishes to criticise any individual (names on a postcard, please) then in line with the agreed protocol relating to witnesses, the individual would need to be informed of said criticism and offered the opportunity to make representations to the Inquiry before the report can be finalised.   

The latest information is that  the Inquiry has advised the Government `that it will need at least until summer 2012 to produce even a draft report - and very probably longer.   And so it seems we have all the classic hallmarks of fudge in the making - booted into the long grass citing problems of process and protocol, in the hope that by the time the `negotiated report` is finally presented to the Prime Minister, the great British public will have forgotten what it was all about anyway.

Until March 2010 - two years ago - the Inquiry had already cost £2,300,000 never mind `incidentals` such as the sum of £27,000 just for Tony Blair`s security when he deigned to attend, so the cost in the end is going to be very substantial indeed.   Now I won`t mind that if at the end of it all we get a clear, rational, informative, incisive report that we can trust and believe in.   Trouble is, I`m not that keen on fudge and I have the feeling we might well be getting quite a lot of it.   If we ever get it at all.