Chilcot Verdict May Provoke the Muslim World

Readers in America are for the most part unaware of the Chilcot Investigation. Briefly stated, the British Parliament has held an exhaustive inquiry into the 2003 invasion of Iraq, with the aim of ascertaining whether that invasion was legal, necessary, or rightful. The Brits felt that if they had indeed taken illegal action, that the people of Iraq should receive full compensation.

The Chilcot Investigation, named for a London Commission headed by Sir John Chilcot, specifically questions the role of Prime Minister Tony Blair and accuses that administration of the use of "unlawful force on a scale amounting to a crime of aggression". Blair says he believed Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, and he believed the intelligence showed Saddam Hussein was a threat. If wrongdoing is indicated, it is further indicated that there now are 5 million Iraqi orphans, and that the United States, and the United Kingdom are responsible.

At this point the verdict is still in the waiting. The Parliamentarians have declared they will confer with the previous American administration before reaching a final decision. The previous American administration of course means in fact, former President Bush, and former Vice President "Dick" Chaney.

From the U.K. Telegraph, March 29, 2010:
"Sources in Washington said the inquiry sent out emails "about three weeks ago" to senior officials in Mr. Bush's government including, it is believed, the former president himself.

"Other requests are understood to have been made to Dick Cheney, Mr. Bush's vice-president, Condoleezza Rice, the former secretary of state, Donald Rumsfeld, the former US defense secretary, and Stephen Hadley, an ex-national security adviser - as well as to their deputies and senior assistants."

It has been suggested that the U.K. is a poodle' to the previous American Administration; that the Americans set the course, and the Brits follow. "The perception that the British Government was a subservient 'poodle' to the U.S. Administration leading up to the period of the invasion of Iraq and its aftermath is widespread both among the British public and overseas," states the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee.
The British for some time have used the phrase "Special relationship" to indicate the relations existing between themselves and the U.S. This expression in fact was first employed by none other than Winston Churchill in 1946. Interestingly, the committee is now considering dumping the phrase -- "like so much tea into Boston Harbor"

It appears obvious to this commenter that any conferring with Bush/Chaney will in all likelihood nullify and forever eliminate any positive motivation the British assembly may have had, and will undoubtedly result in a declaration that the invasion was indeed warranted and necessary. In view of the influence of the G.W. Bush administration, no other outcome seems possible. So then we see that the entire time consuming investigation will become a fraud, a white-washing, a travesty, and an abominable waste. Therefore what at its onset was a talisman of good faith and of humanity to the Iraq people now becomes an insult, a rude joke. Once again the Brits will snub their royal noses with no thought of the potential for retribution.

As America makes a substantial effort not to become embroiled in elections, and in daily business in predominantly Muslim countries, the British with impunity interfere; they snub their royal noses. And when they declare that the invasion of Iraq was necessary, there will be no looking back.

We see the white-wash coming; we find any other outcome from Chilcot well nigh impossible. We hope that the Muslim nations will respond with restraint.
We eagerly await the outcome of this investigation, clandestine to much of the Western World.