SNP dubs belated Chilcot inquiry ‘ludicrous’

Press TV – August 30, 2015

The Scottish National Party (SNP) has called on the British government to set a deadline for the much-delayed report of the Iraq war inquiry.

SNP said it was unacceptable that the inquiry has not reported after six years and a cost of nearly 16 million dollars.

The ruling Scottish party, which on its website described the delays as ludicrous, called for a definitive answer to what it called the failures of the Iraq war.

It added that the current Conservative government is also responsible for the Labour-initiated war as Conservatives overwhelmingly backed the invasion of Iraq.

The so-called Chilcot inquiry, named after John Chilcot who chairs the Iraq war investigation, began in 2009 and has repeatedly delayed its report under the pretext that it needs to interview all individuals implicated in the US-led invasion of the country.

The last of the hearings of the inquiry was held more than four years ago.

Chilcot has already declined to set out a timetable for his Iraq inquiry despite a threat of legal action by families of British troops killed in the unpopular US-led war.

Earlier this month, Lawyers representing 29 families said they would move to the London High Court, if the Chilcot inquiry fails to give a publication deadline in two weeks.

“There have been outrageous delays to date and it seems as though those delays would simply be interminable,” Matthew Jury, a lawyer representing the families said.

The US-led invasion of Iraq began in 2003 and lasted for over 8 years. The war, which was initiated under the false pretense of weapons of mass destruction, took the lives of 179 UK personnel and nearly 4,500 US soldiers.

The number of Iraqi civilian deaths has been estimated to be over one million by some sources.