Deal reached on ‘gist’ of Blair-Bush Iraq talks

Details of the “gist” of talks between Tony Blair and George Bush before the Iraq war are to be published, the UK’s Chilcot inquiry says.

But transcripts and full notes of conversations will remain secret, at the request of the Cabinet Office.

The agreement between the inquiry and Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood could clear the way for the report to be published this year.

This is such a cop-out, the whole point of the Chilcot inquiry as I understood it was to officially establish and present the reason(s) why we went to war in Iraq, so why will the public not be allowed to see the full transcript of the conversations that will give us the answers?

If the inquiry is just going to give the gist of things then they might as well not bother, because this news confirms that the inquiry has failed and has been a total waste of time because it’s agreed not to do the one thing it was supposed to do.

Also this deal suggests that there is some deeply embarrassing stuff in those conversations that Blair would rather no-one saw, so he’s done what all establishment figures do he’s struck a deal to ensure a cover up.