Mark Steel: Why not hold all trials in private?
They'd have put Cherie Blair on the inquiry, only she'd have charged a fee
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Independent Minds
I'd love to have spent the last couple of days with Tony Blair or Alastair Campbell. Because at some point they're sure to have said, "There's a million people on the streets against a lying and warmongering, government. Surely now they have to take notice."
It's unlikely anything so interesting will come out of the inquiry into the Iraq war announced by Gordon Brown. Because it will be held entirely in secret, and is not allowed to "apportion blame", as this will prevent the inquiry being "clogged up by expensive lawyers."
Apparently this will encourage those called to be "more candid" about their behaviour. So why not change the whole legal system for similar reasons? Murderers would be so much more candid in a trial if they weren't weighed down by the thought of their comments being made public. "Between you and me I strangled the lot of them," they'd laugh, whereas once they're in that big room with lawyers and blame getting in the way they're BOUND to clam up.
How much quicker the law could be resolved without all that paraphernalia of cross-examining and working out who was telling the truth and other money-wasting nonsense. Just ask someone whether they did it, and if they say "Not really," or "I had to kill them because I'd heard they had some destructive weapons," the judge could say "Well that's pretty much cleared it up – who's next?"
And what a liberal turn Gordon Brown's taken with this "refusal to blame" attitude. He must have been listening to a radical parenting workshop in a field in Devon, so those responsible will be told, "OK – I'm hearing negative thought-lines resulting from imaginary-weapons-of-destruction-syndrome yeah, but I don't want you to feel blame for all the deaths OK, instead I want you to digest an alternative activity strategy of public speaking and praying so as not to stifle your creativity yeah."
In an effort to represent the expertise of many layers of society, the team running the inquiry has been drawn from a wide cross-section of knights. (To be fair only four out of the five in the team are knights. The other is a baroness, because New Labour stands by its slogan, "For the many not the few").
They're not even neutral knights, because Sir Lawrence Freedman wrote a memo on which Blair based a speech proposing war, and Sir Martin Gilbert has already said Blair and Bush may be seen as "akin to Roosevelt and Churchill." So why are they bothering to have an inquiry at all? It would make more sense to have a dinner party. Then they could release its conclusions that: 1) There was little alternative to war; 2) The recession is creating some wonderful opportunities for property in Italy; and 3) Sir John and Sir Roderic both knew the same masters at Eton, isn't that amazing?
They'd probably have put Tony and Cherie Blair on the inquiry team, except that Cherie would have charged an appearance fee and it would end up costing more than all the lawyers.
One minister defended the war yesterday by boasting that the levels of violence in Iraq are now at their lowest since 2003. So after six years and a million dead the place is finally back to the level of violence that existed before the invasion happened. But it's justified because one of the dead was Saddam, although with this new system of secrecy and disastrous wars for which no one in the government is to blame, if he was still around they'd be after him for advice.
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Comments
What is the essence of any inquiry if the findings have been dictated before hand? That is, not to apportion blame. Why waste our dwindling resources on a whitewash simply for the sake of being seen to conduct inquiry?
I dare predict that Brown will back-pedal over this just like he did in the Gurkah case. He is in a tight corner. If he climbs down, he faces accusation of being weak and indecisive. If he doesn't, he face a humiliating defeat on William Hague's motion for a public inquiry which will gain cross-party support. How on earth is Brown described as 'intelligent'? He looks rather like a bumbling fool to me because of his inability to gauge the public mood and act consequently. Or, does he think that the people are there to manipulate and take liberty with it?
Chilcot probably worked with Hutton
Secret trials? What more to expect from a Prime Minister who, at heart, is, & always has been - a Stalinist?
We should set up a Peoples Court, which will not only hold all evidence in public, it can apportion blame, if required. Perhaps the first question should be where are all those weapons of mass destruction.
Far too many good people have died or have life long injuries, we owe it to those people, both Iraqis and British who have suffered so much.
So, Gordon what are you hiding? What do you know we don't? For Gordon does know a thing or two doesn't he, as do the rest of the cabinet. Knows very well what went on and why Tony had to put his faith in God, because sure as eggs are eggs he couldn't put is faith in facts that didn't fit his preaching.
What Gordon is doing is an insult to our intelligence. There are several earthy phrases to aptly describe and encapsulate the way this man is treating us none of which I can repeat here. I wish I could.
Mark I like you. Honest I do. However, this comment is not well done. You see Iraq has something to do with the money and politics. Talk of cash read this. Can you talk of this in public? No?
The sale will be syndicated. Barclays Capital, Goldman Sachs, HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland will find buyers for the bonds. The DMO last sold debt in this way in 2005, with the sale of a 50-year inflation-linked gilt, but it is rare for gilts to be sold on a syndicated basis. Britain usually sells gilts through auctions
There are also concerns among investors that, with interest rates at record lows, inflation is being fuelled -hitting the value of investments,
The only place very private where not even a bird can go in the hidden prison or the hell. But I doubt that we can send any there. It is full like the MU players trying to breathe through the shots they got from the Aon and not AIG.
I thank you
Firozali A. Mulla
Corrupt MPs face axe from angry voters. Wednesday, 10 June 2009 at 11:56 pm
I thank you
Firozali A Mulla
I wish MS would have a word with his fellow columnist John Rentoul, who publicly claimed that New Labour 'never lied' about Iraq.
Cameron would not stop Blair's EU bid
David Cameron has said he would allow Tony Blair a free run at becoming the EU's first president. According to reports, the Tory leader has informed senior colleagues not to oppose a Blair candidacy if the Lisbon Treaty, which creates the role, is ratified later this year. The issue is a thorny one for Mr Cameron, who has refused to answer questions about a Blair candidacy on the grounds that his party opposes the treaty.
There you have it.
Don't think you've seen the last of Blair yet.
That's why it's really so important to campaign for his prosecution.
That's why the Iraq inquiry is so important.
This isn't all over - not for Iraq, and not for us.
The people responsible for this are not merely free but able to do all of this again.
The people at Guantanamo are experts at encouraging people to talk
I guess a column telling the nation they are a "bunch of ****" wouldn't work too well ... but if anyone can get away it with it, you can ... promise, Mark. I'll march for you to get your job back.
But still, don't blame it all on Brown. After all, he is all set to go out into the real world any day now and have to get a proper job. Now is not the time for Brown to be making brand new enemies. Now is the time to set up dinner parties for partial knights (and a baroness).
As they both would probably be convicted of war crimes now, it seems quite an apt comparison.