LEAKED ARMY REPORT SAYS BLAIR and BROWN TO BLAME FOR IRAQ QUAGMIRE

LEAKED ARMY REPORT SAYS BLAIR and BROWN TO BLAME FOR IRAQ QUAGMIRE

Commenting on an army report leaked to the Sunday Mirror which blames not only Tony Blair but Gordon Brown for the botched occupation of Iraq the SNP Westminster leader and Defence spokesperson, Angus Robertson MP, said it indicated unease at senior army levels about the inquiry being held in secret.

According to the secret report by senior Army officers which was to be presented to the Iraq war inquiry it criticises the then Chancellor Gordon Brown for withholding funds to rebuild Basra for FIVE months after troops went in. The 100-page document also attacks Tony Blair for "uncritically" accepting the flawed US plans for the March 2003 invasion.

The report - Stability Operations in Iraq - is not meant not be officially made public because the inquiry's head, Sir John Chilcot, ruled all documents will remain secret.

Commenting Mr Robertson said:

“This leaked document would appear to be a damning critique of the two most senior members of the Labour government at the time - Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

"It also suggests that there may be great unease about Gordon Brown's decision to allow the inquiry to be held in secret when it wished.

“The whole point of this inquiry was to get to the truth about the Iraq war. People wanted an open and honest inquiry, not some establishment stitch-up.

"This leak would appear to support the fact that by every measurement the Iraq war 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."