Relatives of soldiers killed in Iraq urge Chilcot to publish report by yearend
Relatives of British soldiers killed in the Iraq war have called on Iraq Inquiry Head Sir John Chilcot to publish a long-awaited report on UK’s role in the war by the end of this year.
In a letter, the relatives also threatened Chilcot with legal consequences if he fails again to meet the new deadline.
“In the absence of any reasonable, transparent and full explanation why you cannot, we expect you to write to the prime minister within one month with a date for publication, which should be by the end of the year," the letter reads.
They added that ”by your own admission, now Maxwellization is over. There is nothing to prevent you doing this. If you fail to do so, we will continue with our legal challenge.”
Last week, Chilcot wrote to the Foreign Affairs committee of UK parliament saying the process was complete. He however refused to set a publication date for the report.
The relatives had previously set a deadline for Chilcot which expired in August, to complete so-called Maxwellization, a process which allows witnesses to respond to the report’s claims before publication.
They also added that individuals who have faced criticism in the report over their involvement in the war “have seen their careers flourish while our own lives have been ruined."
The letter expressed regret over what it called hypocrisy in preparing the report. “Instead of due care and concern, we feel you have treated us with contempt,” it added.
The long-awaited inquiry started back in 2009 and was supposed to be completed within a year. The repeated delays in the publication of the report have sparked harsh criticism in the UK society.
London-based Sabah Jawad from Iraq Democrats against Occupation has told Press TV that there is no reasonable justification for the repeated delays in the report’s publication.
He went on saying that the relatives of killed soldiers feel they are mistreated as after several years, no one takes them seriously and adopts measures to make sure justice is served.
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 1 million by some sources.
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