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THE IRAQ INQUIRY - THE CROSSROADS TO TRUTH AND JUTICE

Date added: Monday 1st February 2010 written by

DAVES DIARY leading up to the Iraq inquiry.

 

WEDNESDAY

Not enough hours in a day today. I guess when it comes to arranging travel and documents I am at the bottom of the class, thankfully there was help for me with the steady hand of my wife to take over. This left me to go and get the hair cut, a vital necessity if you had seen my hair previously.

From twelve o’clock mayhem ensued as the world and his wife was calling me for comments about Friday and the forthcoming inquiry, an important event for the families who have lost loved ones and an equally important day for this country.

To be honest I was glad when I could finally escape from the pressures and climb into bed, but sleep won’t come easy, the brain won’t shut down and I am out of sheep to count now, so maybe I will put my laptop on and see who of my friends are on facebook.

 

THURSDAY

That cursed alarm is sounding off at me again and this time I must get up, get motivated and otherwise prepare myself for an eventful day. This started at 6.30, the normal time for me to usually get up and about, but nothing today is anything but normal as I am about to embark on a journey that will eventually lead me to my nemesis, my battle, just like David of the Bible when he stood against Goliath  with a mere sling shot.

It is a journey that will start at Exeter coach station to board the National Express coach that will take  me to London, to prepare myself for the meeting at the cross roads, where truth and justice will I hope meet, namely the QE2 building in Westminster where I shall come face to face with Tony Blair on Friday.

The journey up was pretty uneventful, with the traffic flowing steadily, and I was more than thankful that I was able to get a seat right at the front of the coach where I could stretch out my legs to ease the pain of the arthritis in my knees. But I have to pull myself up and stop complaining when I think of what so many of our servicemen have gone through in Iraq and are going through in the sand pit that is Afghanistan. Arthritis doesn’t come into the equation when I think of the many servicemen who have lost limbs, or worse, have lost their lives.

On reaching the outskirts of London there comes a change of life, gone was the rather more sedate life of the South West in exchange for the life of the capital of England, fast, seemingly charged with the electricity of a modern day people packed city in which people seemed to have no time for them selves, no time to stop and think, not a life that would come easy for me I have to say, if I took into account the number of times I was jostled and barged by seemingly android human robots, with fixed stares on their faces guiding them around the many streets.

Having finally reached my destination I have to register at the hotel where I m staying, this is called the Union Jack Club. It is an impressive sky scraper building situated next to Waterloo station, of modern design but with the history to go with it. It features many photographs of past military and non military people of note, and if I had had the time it would have been interesting to delve into the past life of those many names that adorn the walls.

Having registered I made my way up to my room which was to be my home for the night, this is very tastefully set out and everything that I need is to hand. Having regained my composure somewhat, with a cup of coffee in my room I decided to go back down to the reception area to see if I could find any of the families that I knew were coming for the inquiry.

As I was walking around the hotel on my explorations I met two ladies who were there with the Ssafa support group who were there for the weekend, so we got chatting together about the things they do by way of supporting our many servicemen’s families and servicemen who served in Iraq and are currently serving in Afghanistan.

Such lovely people, and I got to talking about my grandson and how he gave his life in Basra in February 2007 and it is hard to believe that we are in 2010 now, how time seems to fly doesn’t it. I walked with the ladies to the area of the hotel which they had reserved still chatting together as I was keen to hear more about Ssafa, as I explained that Ssafa was one of the four service charity’s that Operation Braveheart supports.

Having met up with some folk, I was about to bid my farewell and head for the hotel dining room for dinner when I was approached by the lady who initially set up the support group and she invited me to join them in their dinner that evening, I didn’t wish to intrude but they rather insisted so I gracefully accepted the invitation and it turned out that I was indeed glad that I did.

As I say, I was glad and so sad too to be able to share this moment with so many people, families who lost loved ones in Iraq and too families who have recently lost loved ones in Afghanistan just weeks or a few months ago.

Within the Ssafa support group they will find many friends, and much support from those, who like I and my own family have lost a loved one and I was so honoured that I could talk to them, give them a hug and at least try to help them make sense of al those feelings and tears and pain that only someone in such a position feels and knows.

So it was, after a quiet drink with some of my new found family of friends, the I took the lift up to the 14^th floor to my room, heavy of heart, and thoughtful of mood about the unfolding events to come the next day. Full of so many feelings, of love, of compassion, and too full of hope and yet also of fear for tomorrow, as deep down there are nagging doubts, born of the knowledge of the past, that somehow Tony Blair will not even begin to tell it as it was. OH GOD, please give these my family of friends the strength and courage to face what tomorrow will bring. 

FRIDAY

It seems to me that London is a city that never sleeps, as my morning started so it seemed, as the night ended, sounds of police and ambulance sirens echoed and bounced off the surrounding buildings, maybe with a little less traffic noise at five in the morning when I awoke.

Sitting on the edge of the bed I sat there deep in thought and saying a prayer to our Lord above for peace of heart for all those families who were gathered together for the ensuing day to come, it will be a difficult time I know, but as a family we will do as we do in our own personal families, we love and support one another, and I know that I shall have to be ready to hold out that hand of friendship, an arm of support, and a soft shoulder to cry on to help ease that pain that will no doubt come to so many today.

Breakfast is at seven so time to shower and get changed, pack the bag, and after generally making sure I have left nothing behind I finally make a cup of coffee, sit down in front of the laptop to record my thoughts and wait for a phone call to come through from Radio Devon, which I had totally forgotten about.

A good but rather hurried breakfast ensued as time now was pressing us as we had to get to the QE2 building to be in our seats by ten past nine. Most of us had decided to share taxi’s to get us there so three friends and I set off for the short journey from the hotel to our destination.

From what I had learned we could expect to see demonstrators from the stop the war campaign, and quite possibly those with extremist views too, security would be tight, and it would take a while to get into the building. As we approached the QE2 building we could see and hear, even above the traffic noise, the chants and beating drums of demonstrators gathered outside.

It’s a bit of an error to say that security would be tight; it was in fact a ring of steel, of police with body armour and guns, to dogs and Ariel observation from circling helicopters and no doubt other security agents which melt into the background unobserved.

To gain first access we were asked to go around the block to avoid possible contact with demonstrators, which would bring us to the first security checkpoint where we had to show our documents and ID. This done we had to go through it all again many times, till we reached the main door and the body searches and to walk through the x-ray machine, well I assume it was x-rays that were going through us. Then to deposit any coats or bags that might have been brought in through the screening till finally I had to say bye to my friends as I headed to the inquiry room itself for the morning session.

Finally I am at the crossroads, where truth and justice will meet, well that is what I hope to see eventually when the inquiry finally finishes and its report published. I am now seated in the inquiry room and it is quite small really as I had come to expect something somewhat bigger. My mind is in turmoil as I glance around the room to see if I can spot any family, members seated close to me.

I am sat behind and to the left of the hot seat in which Tony Blair will sit which reminds me of the Magnus Magnusson programme, Mastermind. That solitary black seat facing the inquiry team and I wondered to myself, would this man Tony Blair be such a mastermind, at the end of the inquiry will he come away with full marks, and an unblemished record? Time will tell.

In such circumstances as I have mentioned, I will not, as I had hoped to do, have the opportunity to look Tony Blair straight in the eye, face to face, as he came into the inquiry room from a door to the left of me. He walked in eyes straight ahead, neither glancing left or right, and sat down on that black leather chair. My only vision of the face of the man will be from the large screen TV set up to the left of the inquiry team.

Watching the man directly for the first time, he seems to me to be suave and glib, and for now composed, no doubt he will have been well schooled and briefed by his personal team if the large file placed in front of him is anything to go by. I sensed, more than saw a smugness in his facial composure, the lips closed but wide, thankfully he newer showed that tooth paste advert grin he often wears, maybe it was just as well he didn’t.

In answering the committees questions his body language spoke volumes to me as he raised and used many hand gestures, one in particular caught my eye, that of the full open hand held toward the inquiry team as though to say, hang on, wait a minute, this is how it is, stop with the questions already.

As we now know Mr Blair faced tough questions, more so in the afternoon session when the probing was rather more intense than in the morning session, in which I myself was present at. Such questions covering the legality of the war, sanctions leading up to the war, and the question of WMD and terrorism.

It seems to me that the catalyst that sealed the decision of taking out Saddam Hussein stemmed from the reaction and aftermath of the 9/11 atrocity that struck the United States that year, which told the American people that though there were a large country they were and are still equally vulnerable to terrorism in all its form as the rest of us are.

There are indeed many facets to terrorism, many countries that have a political axe to grind when it comes to the western hemisphere, so I have to ask the question, why focus directly on Iraq? The Iraq war brings more questions than answers, I am not qualified to delve into the depths of such questions but like you, I have opinions and thoughts, there are many academics and political commentators who will one day fathoms such questions in years to come, such questions as, why  only Iraq, why when we were In the mode of sanctions did we give money directly to the regime for medicines and support for the Iraqi people, knowing full well it would not go to where it would be needed, why did we not give this support directly in kind?

The inquiry committee will draw its own conclusions at the end of the inquiry which I feel will in no way help to ease the pain and suffering of the many servicemen’s families directly involved with this tragic war. I came to this inquiry with an open mind, which remained open though clouded with doubt at times as the day wore on, and I was prepared to give Tony Blair the benefit of that doubt, until that is in the latter part of the afternoon session

Prior to the conclusion of that session, Mr Blair was asked by Sir John Chillcott if he had any thoughts any suggestions to give to the team before the closure.

Not one word came forth from his lips to explain to the families present at that inquiry why there loved ones had to die, not one word of sorrow, not one word of regret, that so many of our servicemen gave their lives in the sands of Iraq. That was the one thing that every family who has lost a loved one was hoping to hear, THAT SIMPLE WORD, SORRY.

Mr Blair should have been in that family room right then, listen to the sobs of grief, listen to the cries of despair and gasps of astonishment from so many broken hearts. Brave men and women have died; brave men and women are still dying in Afghanistan and for what.

It takes a brave man and honest person to say “I AM SORRY” and to mean it, by saying sorry and admitting you made a mistake does not bring shame upon you, it in fact brings you respect, I personally have no respect for either Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, who incidentally was chancellor in Tony Blair’s Government of the day, blame must also lie at his feet and it is to be hope that he will speak truthfully when he appears next at this inquiry.

Rightly or wrongly, I have many personal views on terrorism, the political structure of world governments, but one thing is sure. Unless we as a world of civilised countries pull together as ONE UNITED NATION to react to dispel terrorism in all its forms then this world of ours will one day end up destroying itself. Do you want that for your children? Or indeed, your children’s children for that matter? Think about that question very carefully today, because it does matter, very much.

Civilised countries just cannot sit back, back off from indigestible decisions, and leave it to someone else to fight a war that is a concern of every living person on this planet because one day it will rear up and bite you hard.

I am neither pro or anti war.  I am a soldier’s grandfather, of whom I am immensely proud. I am proud of our forces, our servicemen, and our protector’s I will honour and respect them always.

What I am not proud of however and have NO respect for, are Governments who put our forces in harms way, ill equipped or prepared for war, and this war was no exception. Blame does not lie at the feet of the military, though Tony Blair insists he consulted with the MOD and the generals, who he says told him they were ready for war, when the crunch came for our troops there was no serious back up from his Government to their needs, and that equally applies to the actions taking place in Afghanistan today.

I just see the world as it is, lost and alone, in need of leadership to guide us through the many changing facets of this world of ours. Though we may agree or disagree with painful decisions, it is collectively that those decisions should be made, through the United Nations assembly.

Only under deep and thoughtful discussion when we face calamitous decisions will we come together as one people for the good of all. This is the function of this United Nations assembly, to prevent rouge nations seeking their own objectives, to stop gung ho nations who have been hurt to jump to ill thought out conclusions and take the world where perhaps it should not go. It is a tragedy that so many innocent people suffered in Iraq, so many of our countries protectors killed unnecessarily by such ill thought out decisions and so many families left bereft of the knowledge that Tony Blair was sorry for the loss of our servicemen and women in his ill thought out actions.