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Iraq papers: Cameron apology over 'double injustice'
David Cameron has said he is profoundly sorry for the "double
injustice" of the 2003 Iraq invasion.
Speaking after an independent report into previously unseen documents
about the tragedy, the prime minister said civil servants, political and legal
advisers, MPs and the Press had failed to do enough and had also tried to blame
Saddam Hussein and the British intelligence services.
109,032 Iraqis died as a result of the Coalition invasion of Iraq in 2003.
[...]
The prime minister's statement vindicates what protestors have always
claimed: that there was a deliberate Cabinet conspiracy to hide their own
culpability and a campaign to divert the blame onto others.
Amid gasps in the Commons, Mr Cameron revealed that intelligence reports
were significantly altered and that personal information was leaked to the
Press to "impugn the reputation of Dr David Kelly".
But the most significant development is whether the Chilcot Inquiry
should be reopened. [...]
Mr Cameron said there were three main areas highlighted in the report -
failures by the authorities to protect British interests and tell the truth to
their voters, misleading revisions to intelligence service reports and doubt
cast on information supplied to journalists by Dr David Kelly. [...]
Paul Dacre, editor of the Daily Mail newspaper when it ran a story claiming
that British bases were “just 45 minutes from attack” by Iraqi missiles,
offered his "profuse apologies".
He published the story with that headline in the days leading up to the
invasion, which alleged that the Iraqi government was close to acquiring
nuclear weapons.
In a statement he said: "I published in good faith and I am sorry
that it was so wrong." [...]
Cabinet papers are not usually published in the UK until 30 years after
they have been written but MPs agreed to their full, uncensored disclosure last
year.
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