Sir John Chilcot, chairman of the Iraq inquiry has expressed his frustration at Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O’Donnell’s decision not to grant permission for the inquiry to publish private notes between Tony Blair and George Bush in the run up to the Iraq War.
The inquiry will still have access to the information but will not be able to publish the notes in order to back up the conclusions that are reached. This has resulted in the report containing several links to wikileaks for anybody reading the final report to be able to go and take a look for themselves at the evidence.
One of these private notes already released by wikileaks offers some clues as to why it was deemed best not to publish them. In response to a note pointing out the potential of any military action in Iraq to destabilise the entire Middle East and further fan the flames of anti-western feeling in countries such as Iran, President Bush wrote:
“Yo Tommy,
If Irania don’t like it then they’ll be next. We can newk them and make it look like a accident, claim that they did it to theirselves while trying to develop WDMs. And if you backtalk me like that again, the next time I’m in the UK I’ll bring the belt with the big Texas shaped buckle on it and give you such a hiding that you won’t be able to sit down for a week. You hear me boy?”