Chilcot fails to set date for Iraq inquiry report despite legal action threat
Sir John Chilcot has once again declined to set out a timetable for his Iraq inquiry despite a threat of legal action by families of British troops killed following the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.
Earlier this month, lawyers representing 29 families warned the Chilcot committee to give a publication deadline in two weeks or they would move to the London High Court.
John Chilcot has, however, tried to explain as why his inquiry is taking so long. In a statement, he said responses from those criticized in the report have been given an opportunity to respond. "It is critically important that the report should be fair".
Chilcot also cited government documents "which had not been submitted to the inquiry and which have in some cases opened up new issues".
According to media reports, the long-awaited report is set to blame more senior officials than expected for their role in the conflict. Chilcot himself quoted as saying that Britain’s role in Iraq war was more widely than expected, going well beyond then Prime Minister Tony Blair and his inner team.
Over the past few weeks Chilcot has been under pressure to publish the report of the inquiry that began its work about six years ago. When the inquiry was launched in 2009, then Prime Minister Gordon Brown said it would take at least a year.
However, the delay has caused tensions both at political level as well as among families who lost their loved ones.
Last week, Prime Minister David Cameron reiterated his disappointment with the inquiry. Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond also said the government is "as frustrated as anybody" by the delays.
Some bereaved families suspect the probe is being skewed in favor of establishment figures. “The whole process has now become a farce", said Reg Keys who lost his son in Iraq in 2003.
Bitterly disappointed by the latest Chilcot explanations, Keys said lawyers for the affected families are now meeting to decide whether to proceed with threatened legal action against the inquiry. "They had their chance to put their evidence at the time," he said.
Keys also said that he suspects the inquiry would ever ever get to the whole truth. Roger Bacon, another person who lost his son during the Iraq war has criticized Chilcot. "I'm not sure he is able to understand our anguish," he said.
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