Blair will avoid 'the reckoning he deserves' – again

"Hurrah. It's Colosseum time again," said Simon Jenkins in The Guardian. "The all-singing, all-dancing Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war is in town... It even has a star Christian, Tony Blair, who got us into this mess." The cry is for him to die horribly. But, of course, he won't. We know the truth: Blair went to war because he "lacked the guts to stand up to George Bush". We know this from books, papers, leaks and reports. The Hutton and Butler inquiries supplied "mountains of material". But this inquiry "can no more deliver accountability than could its predecessors". As Sir John Chilcot said, his is not a court of law and "no one is on trial".

So he is performing an "exercise in historical research". Parliament which approved the war "will do nothing with the report". Besides, the two previous inquiries have given Blair "all the impunity he needs", said John Kampfner in The Daily Mail. In spite of "compelling public evidence", Hutton's conclusion amounted to a "desultory whitewash".

Lord Butler's report contained a series of revelations that should have brought Blair down, but Butler chose to let him go. This time, although more fascinating details may emerge, the result will be no different. The Chilcot inquiry will "not formally exonerate Blair", but neither will it "land the decisive blow". It's too late for that. "Blair has avoided the reckoning he deserves, thanks to the ever-dependable British establishment."

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True to form, anti-war "zealots" will view all such inquiries as "tainted until and unless they arrive at the 'right' answer concerning Blair's supposed abuse of office", said The Times. "These sentiments have nothing to do with public inquiry. They are a demand for quasi-judicial processes to supplant the decisions of an elected government". In reality, the Iraq war was a "contentious decision that requires scrutiny" and until the Chilcot inquiry publishes its findings, possibly not until 2011, "its judgment should not be pre-judged".