MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Blair Iraq Inquiry unlike Falkland's example
The British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, has come in for criticism for failing to follow Margaret Thatcher's example after the Falklands War agree by his refusal to set up an independent committee to inquire into his government's conduct of the war against Iraq.
He has announced that an official investigation will be carried out by Parliament's Intelligence Committee, which reports directly to him. The House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee has also announced that it will conduct a separate inquiry.
These are expected to focus on allegations that the Prime Minister misled Parliament and the country with disinformation or exaggeration over intelligence reports into whether Saddam Hussein had secreted weapons of mass destruction and doubts whether the Iraqi leader had any close links with the Al Qaeda terrorist network.
Critics say Mr Blair should have agreed to an independent inquiry led by a distinguished and respected figure, as Baroness Thatcher chose to do after the 1982 Falklands War. She appointed a special committee of senior politicians led by a Law Lord, Lord Franks, which criticised the Conservative Government and the Foreign and Defence Departments for failing to anticipate Argentina's mounting aggression.
It revealed that the Foreign Secretary, Lord Carrington, who resigned after invasion, had pleaded for retention of the Royal Navy's Antarctic Patrol vessel, HMS Endurance, to discourage the Argentines. His plea was rejected by the Defence Secretary, John Nott, who announced that the ship was to be decommissioned, along with several other vital warships, which subsequently played a decisive role in liberating the Falkland Islands.
But the Franks Inquiry exonerated Margaret Thatcher's Government by concluding it could not have foreseen the invasion and could not be blamed for "the Argentine Junta's decision to commit its act of unprovoked aggression".
But the Franks Inquiry also came in for widespread criticism for what was regarded by many as a whitewash, letting the Government off too lightly, restricted as it was by its vague terms of reference which were "To review the way in which the responsibilities of Government in relation to the Falkland Islands and their Dependencies were discharged in the period leading up to the Argentine invasion".
The Committee's inquiring into the Gulf War, as well as the United States Congress investigation, face a more complex task.
Harold Briley, (MP) London
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