Chilcot Report - what about the survivors?

The publication of the long awaited Chilcot report has naturally dominated the news this last week, along with the political commentators wanting to put in their two pen’orth worth.

Despite the criticism over the length of time it took to bring the enquiry to its conclusion the general consensus seems to be that it is thorough and fair in its judgement.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and whilst those involved cannot undo their actions, or take back the misguided rhetoric that led us into what is agreed by all to have been a disastrous war, one can only hope that lessons have been learnt.

In our own lives we are all required to make decisions, some with unforeseen consequences that can have a major impact on our lives and those of our loved ones. Rarely are these decisions ones that have such far reaching and long lasting impact as the one made 13 years ago.

When it comes to those that govern us, those, who in our democratic society have been elected in good faith to represent us, I believe that we have a right to expect a greater level of caution, particular when taking us into war and putting the lives of our service men and women at risk.

In the case of the Iraq war it would seem that aside from the dubious motives of the war mongers, wanting to make a name for themselves in standing up for democracy, one has to ask whether or not it is in fact undemocratic to impose regime change on another nation; all rather undemocratic to my mind, and I am no pacifist.

That fact that both we and the Americans had fundamentally failed to plan the course of action that would bring about success, and as a result were totally unprepared to fight the battle and deal with the aftermath is, I believe, immoral.

Whilst Saddam might well have been a threat, much of the intelligence was inaccurate at best and exaggerated at worst to bring about immediate pre-emptive action.  

Whilst we must not forget those who died in this fruitless struggle, I have recently had occasion to think at some length of those who did come back, and who as a result of their horrific experiences have both long term mental and physical injuries, making their lives a living hell. They are the ones who continue to suffer, each and every day, often with little support from their pay masters. The war may be over but they and their families have to live with the repercussions on a daily basis.

In recent interviews much has been made of the memo sent by Blair to Bush stating ‘I will be with you whatever’. It is a pity he is still not able to share the same sentiment in relation to our armed forces. Blair has also said, “I wanted to make sure America did not feel alone. I did not want them to feel compelled to go it alone." Tell that to the families of our service people who were left unprepared and ill equipped to do his bidding.

Whilst I noticed the catch in Blair’s voice as he spoke during the post-report interviews, I also detected the same conscious ‘sound bite’ use of words perfected during his time as Prime Minister. I was left wondering, where was the real emotion at the devastation caused, and for which we are now reaping the reward in the form of recurrent terrorist action?