Written by Londinium Saturday, 01 August 2009 18:39
The most dramatic moment in the film A Few Good Men comes when Jack Nicholson’s character is in the courtroom, giving evidence and faced with a hostile lawyer.
He screams: “You want the truth? You can’t handle the truth!”
It’s unlikely Sir John Chilcot and his colleagues on the Iraq War inquiry will elicit a similar response from Tony Blair, when they summon him for a grilling.
But perhaps the former Prime Minister would be justified if he did decide to recreate the Hollywood scene.
There is already a view developing that the purpose of the inquiry is to convict Mr Blair of misleading the country in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq. See Matthew d’Ancona’s latest column in the Daily Telegraph for an example.
But the truth is that Mr Blair did not take the decision to send British troops into Iraq alone.
He had the support of the Cabinet – including Gordon Brown.
Clare Short, the former International Development Secretary, has complained that there was little real debate in Cabinet. This may be true.
But any member of the Government had the option of resigning, if they did not support the invasion, as Robin Cook, the Leader of the Commons at the time, memorably did.
It’s true that being in Government involves making compromises, and sometimes accepting things you don’t like. But the issue here was whether to go to war. If there was ever a time to make a principled stand, this was it.
The Conservative opposition supported the invasion. Party leaders Iain Duncan Smith and Michael Howard had the opportunity to see the evidence supporting the case for an invasion, and, if they felt they were not being given the full picture, to make a judgement based on what they did know.
The House of Commons voted in favour of the invasion. And when the vote took place, late in February 2003, it was after serious questions had been raised about the Government’s use of intelligence to justify military action.
For example, earlier that month it had emerged that a Downing Street dossier detailing Iraq’s attempts to deceive the international community about its weapons programme had, in fact, been largely copied from an academic thesis published on the internet.
And the British people largely supported the invasion, something that tends to be forgotten now. To take one poll as an example, a YouGov survey on March 19 2003 - a day before the invasion - found that 50 per cent of voters backed the conflict, with 42 per cent opposed.
In 2005, after it became clear there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, the UK voted to give Tony Blair a third term in office.
Yes, it is possible to make a very strong argument that the invasion of Iraq was a disastrous mistake.
But it would be wrong for Sir John's inquiry to turn Tony Blair into a scapegoat for the conflict.
The truth, whether we can handle it or not, is that the bulk of Britain’s political class, and, indeed, the public, must accept a share of the blame.
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