"There is little possibility of vigorous debate of the kind that Sir John Chilcot thinks so necessary." Credit: Dan Kitwood/PA Wire/Press Association Images. All rights reserved.The Iraq inquiry report, which took seven years to complete and was finally published on 6 July 2016, turned out to be more robust and independent than expected. Already, it has resulted in intense discussion in the media and public realm. But what is now being missed is what the report's author, Sir John Chilcot, hoped it might achieve.
On the evening before publication he gave a short press address. He expressed the hope that a key outcome would be that the United Kingdom would not again embark on a major foreign military intervention without much greater consideration of all the consequences. It is a noble aim and one which, in other circumstances, we might hope will be one of the most significant results of the seven years of work.
Unfortunately there is a problem, in that it is a wish that has been already dashed. For Britain is again at war with almost no debate, indeed scarcely any recognition that the country even is at war.
