06/07/2016

2003 Iraq invasion 'not last resort'




Iraq Inquiry: Chilcot says invasion 'not last resort'



Listen here: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-36712735


The UK did not exhaust all peaceful options before joining the invasion of Iraq, the chairman of the official inquiry into the war has said.
Sir John Chilcot said military action at the time "was not a last resort".
He also said judgements about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction "were presented with a certainty that was not justified" and post-war planning was "wholly inadequate".
Sir John was speaking ahead of publication of his report at 11:35 BST.
His 12-volume report on the Iraq War comes more than seven years after the inquiry began.
Sir John said he hoped future military action on such a scale would only be possible with more careful analysis and political judgement.
Sir John Chilcot told the BBC his report would criticise individuals and institutions.
He said he hoped it would help answer some questions for families of the 179 Britons who died between 2003 and 2009.
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair is expected to face fresh calls to apologise from political opponents of the war and the relatives of those who were killed during the six years UK troops were based in Iraq.
The report, described as "an absolutely massive task" by Sir John, has been handed to Prime Minister David Cameron and will be available online on the Iraq Inquiry website once Sir John has finished making a statement setting out its findings.

What was the Iraq War?

The US, which led the intervention in March 2003, lost 4,487 service personnel in the war. Figures about Iraqi deaths vary from 90,000 to more than 600,000.

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