Meeting of the Parliament 29 January 2015
This is yet another occasion on which my party and the First Minister’s party have been united on the issue of Iraq. I am sure that she was as disappointed as I was when the Scottish Parliament voted for the invasion of Iraq. I was proud that we stood together against the majority, because we knew our position was the right one. We stood together then just like we are standing together today.
It is a shame that the delays that have characterised the Iraq inquiry were also not a characteristic of the decision to go to war in 2003. Greater deliberation may have avoided the tragedy that unfolded, with thousands of lives lost, many more maimed and a country still recovering from the effects.
In 2007, I visited Umm Qasr, Basra and Baghdad and saw that the invasion’s ramifications were still being felt four years after it began. For example, Iran has a great interest in Iraq, but the invasion unsettled the balance between the two countries. There was no great relationship between them; nevertheless, it was secure before the invasion. It is ramifications such as that that the Blair Government did not foresee or plan for.
In 2010, I subsequently visited Erbil and was able to hear directly from the Kurds about the ramifications for the northern part of Iraq. Again, the situation is unsettled; again, the impact was not planned for. Today, we hear regular reports about Islamic State and some of the atrocities that it is inflicting on minority populations and the rest of Iraq and Syria.
During my visits I saw for myself the folly of the invasion and how the failure to plan for the aftermath would have long-lasting effects. In the Commons, over three years, I voted on four separate occasions for an inquiry into Iraq. On each of those occasions the then Labour Government rejected those pleas. We came up with a various ways in which the inquiry could be conducted; all were rejected. The Labour Government finally conceded at the fag end of its time in government when it could not resist the calls any more.
I led on those calls for an inquiry in a Westminster Hall debate. That was again rejected. I recall the arcane debate about whether the inquiry into the Dardanelles in the first world war was a precedent for an inquiry to be held while the country was still at war. It was claimed that an inquiry would be a distraction for the military when the enemy was still to be defeated. That was four years after George Bush—we all remember that he was not even in Iraq but on an aircraft carrier off the coast of the United States of America—declared “mission accomplished”. The argument that the inquiry could not be held because the conflict was on-going was a farce.
From the beginning, the inquiry was considered an establishment stitch-up and, despite Sir John Chilcot’s determination, it is difficult to disagree. The meetings that at first were held behind closed doors, the restriction of access to records, the vetoing of transcripts and more have all compounded the delay that we are feeling the effects of today.
The inquiry’s composition was supposed to expedite matters, but the result has been an inquiry with insufficient authority. Has one single person held matters up? Probably not, but the establishment, the system and the culture have contrived to ensure that six years later we still have no answers to show. It is therefore absolutely right that the Parliament speaks up to add weight to the growing chorus that is saying, simply and clearly, “Publish—and publish without delay.”
It might be that the lesson that we must learn is that we need to invest more in our diplomatic networks or that we need to learn more about the complex and uncomfortable choices that Government has to make on international matters. I would never advocate an isolationist foreign policy, but perhaps the lesson is to know the occasions on which it is best to sit things out. I hope—I really hope—that those who made the decision are held accountable for their actions, but whatever the conclusion we must learn the lessons before the war is a distant memory.
In 2007, I attended the funeral of Private Scott Kennedy of the Black Watch, who was from Oakley and who died as a result of a roadside bomb in Iraq. For Private Kennedy and the people whom Kevin Stewart referred to—the thousands of others who have lost their lives in Iraq and beyond—we must learn, and learn soon.
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