Thoughts After Chilcot 910


I hope today that people will remember Elizabeth Wilmshurst, Carne Ross, and Katherine Gun, who were all prepared to give up excellent careers to stand against the war in Iraq.

Blair is still a creature of absolute self-serving slime. His attempt yesterday to justify the invasion of Iraq as an effort to prevent a 9/11 on British soil is dishonest in every way. Blair knew full well that Iraq had nothing at all to do with 9/11 – that was his still friends and financiers the Saudi elite. The intelligence advice in advance of the invasion he received was unequivocal that it would increase the threat to the UK, and it directly caused the attacks of 7/7.

The broadcast media seem to think the Chilcot report is an occasion to give unlimited airtime to Blair and Alastair Campbell. Scores of supporters and instigators of the was have been interviewed. By contrast, almost no airtime has been given to those who campaigned against the war.

Cameron’s speech to parliament was such an out and out, and dishonest, apologia for the invasion that it bore no relationship to the report. Corbyn is no orator, but his genuine moral outrage was justified. The Blairites who heckled him from behind during his speech are disgusting. If any meaningful democratic choice is to be offered to people in England and Wales, the Blairites have to be removed from the Labour Party to join with their fellow Tories.

The SNP are playing a blinder on Chilcot. I do hope Salmond moves forward with impeachment, not least because it will both force the Blairites to expose themselves, and reveal the deep feelings against Blair’s actions in the military linked wing of the Tory party.

As predicted, Chilcot had to repeat the Butler Inquiry’s verdict that the intelligence was not fixed, because Chilcot was himself on the Butler Inquiry. It is a lie, the intelligence was knowingly fixed. More on that later.

I apologise these are very brief thoughts. I have not had the opportunity to pay the attention you would expect, as my mother has been taken into hospital and I had yesterday to dash down to Norwich. It will be a few days before I am able to concentrate on politics.


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910 thoughts on “Thoughts After Chilcot

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  • RobG

    Theresa May is the 13th prime minister under the reign of Elizabeth II, and May was made prime minister on the 13th of the month.

    Anyone here superstitious?

  • RobG

    Boris Johnson confirmed as new foreign secretary.

    At the risk of sounding like the record’s stuck, you couldn’t make this up.

    What with Hillary on the other side of the Pond, within a few years we’ll have World War Three.

    Do the human race ever learn?

    • nevermind

      ‘within a few years’? Rob G. this could happen much earlier, too many fires going at present for the smoke to dissipate.
      And who will be bearing the brunt of this last war one might ask? Europe, Alaska, Yellowstone? the Philippines, the middle east bar the IS friendly Israel, Pakistan vs. India?

    • michael norton

      They’ve been about in England for at least 800,000 years,
      they must have learnt how to set a fire by now.

  • Anon1

    Nigel Farage will be remembered for forcing a referendum on our ability to govern ourselves. And after 25 years relentless campaigning and against all manner of shit thrown against him, he won that referendum. God Bless you St Nige.

    David Cameron’s greatest achievement was gay marriage, in compliance with EU Directive EC473574/B

    • YouKnowMyName

      The ‘marriage pour tous’ meme was never a formal EC directive (these are proposed by the Commission then developed in a trilogue with Conseil & EuroParl)

      The way that ‘gay marriage’ suddenly swept many independent nations was much more likely to be correlated with/have been pushed by the Davos/Bilderberg crowd to stop the oiks & meejah from discussing whatever crisis it was that we shouldn’t notice, at the time. I shudder to think what they’ll push on us at the next financial mess. . .?

  • michael norton

    Brexit campaigner David Davis to lead Britain out of the EU in Theresa May’s new Cabinet
    David Davis has been appointed Secretary of State for Brexit by the new Prime Minister Theresa May, as she announces her first Cabinet.

    What a fantastic choice,
    he is the best Conservative m.p.
    raised by a single mother in a council flat.
    Bloody good choice.

    • Je

      ?

      David Davis

      Almost always voted against equal gay rights

      Consistently voted for the Iraq war

      Generally voted for reducing housing benefit for social tenants deemed to have excess bedrooms (which Labour describe as the “bedroom tax”)

      Almost always voted against paying higher benefits over longer periods for those unable to work due to illness or disability

      Consistently voted against increasing the tax rate applied to income over £150,000

      Almost always voted against restricting the provision of services to private patients by the NHS

      Generally voted for more restrictive regulation of trade union activity

      Generally voted against measures to prevent climate change

      https://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/10162/david_davis/haltemprice_and_howden/votes

      The Iraq one is enough for me. “For” says all I need to know about any MP.

      • glenn_uk

        Being in favour of war against Iraq is unforgivable for an MP, granted, because they had even better information than us – and we all knew that none of the reasons given could possibly be true.

        They weren’t just contradicting the live testimony of weapons inspectors, the case was logically incoherent. IF Saddam had WMD, why were we placing 1/4 million of our troops on his boarders? As my old man pointed out. Why were we saying it would be a “cake-walk”, take three days, etc. etc., if he had such mighty weapons?

        And why not let the weapons inspectors continue their work, who were saying at the time there was no cause for alarm, or urgency? There was nothing imminent.

        Friends who thought it a good idea to invade, I have a tougher time judging. They never bothered knowing the facts, even though you might well argue it was their duty to understand why their country was going to war. But SH was “evil” – that was good enough, and beating off a charge that you support SH if you don’t want war is tough to do in a few words, to an extremely low information voter.

  • YouKnowMyName

    New interior minister = Amber Rudd ( ex-JPMorgan ) & 4weddings&funerals film-star(briefly), was married to a heroin-AAdict, politically a Remainian, previously, allegedly.

    The foreign minister = words fail me! Just hope he’s got a great briefing team!!

    • michael norton

      Good news Chicken Boy George is history

      BREAKING: George Osborne resigns from Government as Philip Hammond named Chancellor

      • michael norton

        That sly arsehole wanting to give the pensioners a punishment beating

        let’s hope somebody gives him a punishment beating

        • michael norton

          If I was Mrs. May I would not piss on Nicola Sturgeon even if she was on fire.

          • Rob Royston

            If you were Mrs Anybody, you would find it hard to piss on anyone who was on fire. Unless you were a tranny.

        • glenn_uk

          “Punishment beating”?

          You mean there are such things as congratulatory, reward beatings?

          • Alan

            ‘You mean there are such things as congratulatory, reward beatings?’

            I understand upper class twits pay well for such services.

          • glenn_uk

            Of course… heh, having gone to a rough comprehensive school, I’m blissfully unaware of such things.

          • nevermind

            There is more than this, its called a Schmisse and it sealed your membership in a secret student union. These men, mainly, have leading positions in Germany and they do work in unison.
            They are wearing their duelling scars as ID, mind george liked a little beating.
            He was outed by his support for HSBC, it was obvious he’s going to fall. He’ll have to do a lot of bricklaying now to keep him in marching powder.

          • glenn_uk

            Never heard of that. The only beatings I was aware of, was when you were outnumbered or unable to fight your way out of such a situation. Or able to run faster than them 🙂

            An old mate from school (a very good runner) thought it great sport to provoke a gang of skin-heads until they gave chase. When they flagged, he pretended to get tired too, to encourage them to keep going. If they appeared to be giving up, he provoked them some more.

            Just wish he’d explained this in advance, before inviting me to one of his training sessions.

  • Tony_0pmoc

    Blimey they are coming on a bit strong – but at least they have got rid of that idiot Coke Head…but should they really be saying this? This is going to worry a lot of people…

    “Cameron says EU nationals could be sent home”

    “Incoming Prime Minister Theresa May has refused to guarantee EU citizens the right to stay in Britain.”

    (incidentally, I thought May’s speech was very good – but did she mean it?)

    If they are really having a clear out (which I very much doubt) can they please get rid of the Blairites & Neocons, Tell The Americans They have gone completely mad (and they seriously need to behave) – and inform them of our future trading partners including Russia & China and Europe and The British Commonwealth – and if they don’t like it go and get stuffed?

    “The Honourable Woman Soundtrack – Get Off My Land”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4pxe1xar20

    Tony

    • Ba'al's Bargepole

      With Boris as Foreign Secretary, we’ll have our Empah back in a jiffy, and the natives will be too busy playing wiff-waff to object. Blaaagh!

  • Mark Golding

    Osborne has overseen the biggest increase in death rates amongst the elderly in almost 50 years, rising child poverty, and skyrocketing homelessness. Food bank use has risen to a record high. Millions of benefit claimants have been sanctioned or dropped off the rolls – thousands of them unlawfully. Disability benefit claimants have been stigmatised, and prosecutions for hate crimes against disabled people have soared by 40% in a year. All of this while people struggle to cope with a worsening housing crisis, a cost of living crisis and the most dramatic decline in real wages since Victorian times.

    Now Mr Osborne you can reconnect with Natalie Rowe and revisit sex and cocaine; schmuck!

    • michael norton

      I “believe” I heard on the wireless, just now, that some are expecting house prices to readjust, drastically downwards.
      It was also hinted that the base rate will be soon lowered from its present all time low of 0.5%,
      so this would indicate, that for the youngish people,
      purchasing a home will become a little more realistic.

  • giyane

    US backing of Phillipines maritime rights against China at the UN reminds me of Blair chastising ‘foreigners’ in Iraq.
    The US does not regard itself as a foreigner in its own colonized atolls, nor the UK in its neo-colonial projects started by Winston.
    There’s something fishy about all the US and UK political parties being at the garage at the same time, like Israel is going to make a bid for Greater Israel in Syria. Tenders for nominations for political power will be reviewed on individual candidates’ submissions regarding the interests of Israel.

    Your comment is awaiting moderation.

  • Brianfujisan

    Well There is No Reply To Recent Post..But Nevermind Cheers For Comment yesterday..And Luv to the Misses..Stay Freezin

  • YouKnowMyName

    leaving this entertaining week of politics aside, I was looking to what will be next weeks’ news,
    I passed through warisboring.com – until I found it was probably a John McCain production –
    then noticed this ‘nice’ ‘on-message’ article below by the Guardian , this WILL be next week news!

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/13/russian-athlete-competing-under-a-neutral-flag-at-the-olympics-branded-a-traitor

    there was a similar article in the daily Mail in May 2016,
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/pa/article-3594853/IOC-announces-31-athletes-miss-Rio-Olympics-Beijing-sample-retests.html
    that explained the idea to retest olympic samples just before the statute of limitations expired/or when better technology was available, the The Mail also reported

    So far most of the attention during the Russian doping crisis has been focused at the International Association of Athletics Federations, where several former senior figures have been found to have covered up positive tests, and WADA.

    But the IOC has come under increasing fire for saying so little about the growing evidence that the problem goes beyond athletics and Russia.

    C.I.A. article in Guardian?

    . . . The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) is also due to issue fresh conclusions about doping in Russian athletics in the next week. These findings could possibly include the results of new tests on samples from previous Olympics, including the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014.

    A version of this article first appeared on RFE/RL

    I’m certainly old enough to remember the 100% C.I.A. funding for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty as I’m sure the KGB funded “Radio Station Peace & Progress”

    but seriously RFE/RL is this the go-to-place for new Grauniad news, I gather it is still slightly biased, but praps The Guardian doesn’t care?

    I’ll leave you with what ex-USA group R.E.M muttered about that *noisy* radio station in 1983 already!
    …Raving station, beside yourself
    Keep me out of country in the word
    Deal the porch is leading us absurd
    Push that push that push that to the hull
    That this isn’t nothing at all
    Straight off the boat where to go?
    Calling on in transit calling on in transit
    Radio Free Europe, radio
    Beside defying media too fast
    Instead of pushing palaces to fall
    Put that, put that, put that before all
    That this isn’t fortunate at all
    Raving station, beside yourself
    Calling on in transit, calling on in transit
    Radio Free Europe, radio
    Decide yourself,…
    Full lyrics on Google Play

    https://youtu.be/Ac0oaXhz1u8 (1983 R.E.M. muttering the nice pop-tune)

  • nevermind

    0/T An interesting interview linking to what we have talked about here yesterday, the slow determined NATO expansion, steered by Hawks.

    ‘We are smarter , stronger and more determined’
    ” Karaganov: NATO is now 800 kilometers (497 miles) closer to the Russian border, weapons are completely different, strategic stability in Europe is shifting. Everything is much worse than it was 30 or 40 years ago.

    SPIEGEL: Russian politicians, including President Vladimir Putin, are trying to convince their population that the West wants war in order to fragment Russia. But that’s absurd.

    Karaganov: Certainly there has been some exaggeration. But American politicians have openly said that the sanctions are aimed at bringing about regime change in Russia. That’s aggressive enough.

    SPIEGEL: The evening news on Russian television seems to be even further removed from reality. Even a Moscow-based newspaper recently wrote of the “illusion of an external threat.”

    http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/interview-with-putin-foreign-policy-advisor-sergey-karaganov-a-1102629.html

  • michael norton

    NULABOUR “pissing in the wind”

    Labour leadership: Smith “wants referendum on EU deal”
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-36792176
    Labour leadership contender Owen Smith wants a second public vote to approve any Brexit deal the UK strikes with the EU, according to a newspaper.

    Why does the Labour party always live in the past?

    • michael norton

      Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union

      Mrs. T. May has claimed, several times that “BREXIT MEANS BREXIT”
      She has also said “There will not be a brought forward G.E”
      She has put the highly respected ( but in the backwaters while Cameron-Osborne were running the show) David Davis M.P.
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Davis_(British_politician)
      as the first Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union.

      The die is cast.

      We are taking the EXIT

      • nevermind

        If and when D.Davies decides to parley. For him to look eager and wanting to do so would mean that he enacts article 50, not wait for Parliament to have a vote, not wait whether a second referendum is an option.

        but will he start work next monday? or some undetermined time in the future?

    • michael norton

      this will please the junior doctors

      BREAKING: Beleaguered Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt ousted by Theresa May

  • michael norton

    I’ve just had a thought, maybe Messrs Gove / Murdoch have been out-smarted by Mrs. may.

    maybe the reason Boris withdrew his name from the hat was because Theresa May
    had suggested to boris
    “Boris withdraw and you can have the foreign office and we will slaughter the shits Osborne and Gove”

  • YouKnowMyName

    Yes MN, of course BoJo was made an offer he couldn’t refuse. . . that was fairly obvious at the time. . . but we didn’t know who had made the offer – it seems *they* made a similar offer to Theresa, (that’s only valid if she wasn’t the one doing the offering). . .

    On the ME, lots of ‘mistakenly bombed’ falsehoods here, no mention of recent joint assistance to ISIS, but otherwise an interesting read http://www.jpost.com/Jerusalem-Report/No-going-back-to-the-good-old-days-459635

    • michael norton

      The EUROPEAN EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

      E.U. boss says Britain’s E.U. exit must be painful to serve as a warning to other nations
      DESPERATE Donald Tusk has said the E.U. must NOT let Britain profit from leaving the crumbling bloc as it could inspire other states to follow suit.

      http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/689086/Donald-Tusk-European-Union-referendum-Brexit-EU

      The president of the European Council said it would be “lethal” to let the UK walk away scot-free as he attempts to avoid a domino effect across the continent in the wake of Brexit.

      Mr Tusk took the tough stance amid upcoming negotiations following Britain’s sensational Leave vote.

      The little shit.

        • michael norton

          Hammond’s no separate Scottish EU deal is “disappointing”, says Sturgeon
          http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-36791851
          New chancellor Philip Hammond has said he cannot envisage a scenario where Scotland has a different relationship with the EU from the rest of the UK.

          Agree.

          Sturgeon to meet PM May within days, BBC understands
          http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-36796669
          Ms Sturgeon believes everything should be done to maintain Scotland’s European role post the Brexit vote.

          I expect Ms Sturgeon is whistling in the wind.

          • michael norton

            Moscow congratulates Johnson on UK foreign secretary post, says it ‘won’t miss Hammond’

            Moscow has issued its congratulations to former London Mayor Boris Johnson on his new posting as British foreign secretary, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Thursday. “Turning a new page in Russian-British relations has long been overdue,” she said at a briefing. “If the new head of the British Foreign Ministry shows support for doing so with appropriate intentions and actions, we shall consequently reciprocate,” she added. “We won’t miss Mr. Philip Hammond,” Zakharova said of the former minister.

            https://www.rt.com/news/line/

  • mike

    So Turkey are playing nice with Russia all of a sudden. Since the Istanbul airport attack the tone from Ankara has softened, by some way.

    The attackers were thought to be from Russia, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. I wonder if Ramzan Kadyrov himself ordered what has to be considered a counterinsurgency coup for Russia. With plausible deniability, of course. The attackers did come from Raqqa, after all, and so cannot possibly be connected to Russia.

    Now ISIS will start to get paranoid about any Central Asians in their ranks. They’ll be fighting each other.

    It’s a real beaut.

  • mike

    Yup, and at least a section of the Turkish military appears to have decided enough is enough. Trying to empire-build in northern Syria means going toe-to-toe with Russia, and that was never going to end well for Turkey.

    The Mad Sultan’s reign seems to be drawing to a close. And that’s bad news for his proxies in Aleppo, the Sigmaringen of the Levant.

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