IRAQ INQUIRY TIMETABLE FARCICAL ATTEMPT TO PLAY FOR TIME.

IRAQ INQUIRY TIMETABLE FARCICAL ATTEMPT TO PLAY FOR TIME.

Speaking after this afternoon’s vote on an inquiry into the Iraq war, SNP MP, Angus MacNeil, has hit out at the Labour government’s announcement of a timetable for an inquiry into the conflict.

The SNP have led demands for an inquiry into the Iraq war, and secured the first substantive debate in October 2006 – at that time the vote was narrowly lost by just 25 votes – with 12 Labour rebels. It was backed by all Tories and Liberal Democrats.

Mr MacNeil said:

“David Miliband’s announcement of a timetable is farcical. It is a desperate attempt to play for time by a discredited government.

“An inquiry into the Iraq war is long overdue, and the process should begin right now, not be delayed for another day.

“Labour’s plans for an inquiry to begin post July mean parliament will be in recess, by autumn everyone will be looking at the economy and Pre-Budget Report, and then it will buried under the General Election.

“This inquiry should have been held years ago, not held on ice by those politicians who dragged us into an illegal war on the basis of false information.

“By every measurement this has been the biggest foreign policy disaster in modern times, and those responsible for it have never answered the most fundamental questions about why we were led into this mess.

“The claim that the war was about weapons of mass destruction was a blatant lie, a mere cover story unsupported by the facts, which has cost the lives of thousands of civilians and hundreds of our brave soldiers.

“The SNP have been pressing for years on this issue, and the UK Government to tell us the truth right now.”