Chilcot Inquiry Update

Like many government created inquiries, the Chilcot hearings has its critics and it has its shortfalls.

In an age when transparency is a whimsical notion, Chilcot is being pressed to become more transparent.

I find the detail excerpted below to be very interesting. It tells how military contracts were not completed in time and so British soldiers were sent off to Iraq without the necessary equipment. Didn't Rumsfeld say you go to war with the army you have not the army you want?

The rush to war was so accelerated that some British military personnel were inadequately supplied.

The next question in my mind would be, did this also happen in the USA? Did the inexplicable rush to war cost more lives?

Guardian UK: Gordon Brown urged to lift Iraq inquiry secrecy - Fears most explosive documents related to beginning of war will not be aired at Chilcot hearing

...might make it possible for Mr Brown to stopblock the release of papers relating to the procurement of equipment for the armed forces before the war.

That process is widely believed to have cost the lives of British troops who were left without vital kit such as body armour, because the contracts were concluded too late.