Does more need to be done to look into cause of Iraq war?

[AB Asks]

An attempt to get the government to carry out an enquiry into the Iraq war has been rejected by Law Lords. The effort was carried out by the mothers of two soldiers killed in Basra. Should more be done to look into the causes of the war?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7337988 .stm

[jedimistress]

Why bother, most people know what it was about. WMD wasn't it???

[RevFunk]

WMD? lol

Nothing to do with oil was it....

[R1Geezer]

we don't need another sme66ing enquiry, all that does is feed the lawyers.

We already know the SP, we went in with good intentions, removed SH, no WMD's found who bl00dy cares. They are determined not to be helped so pull out now and let the scum kill each other, end of.

There you go no enquiry needed just the wisdom of the Geezer!

[Gromit]

Blair saw a political opportunity after 9/11 to re-engage with America and share in the benefits of being the worlds only superpowers' best buddy.

The reasons given for going to war were irrelevant. We were to do whatever America wanted us to do. That fact that Americas stated reason for going into Iraq were spurious didn't really matter.

The lie and the reason:
Saddam and Bin Laden were sworn enemies and no WMD existed. Saddam had tried to kill Bush senior, and no one gets away with that.

Unfortunately, the war didn't go to plan. The superpower was superpowerless. The Bush administration made a lot of political errors which stymied its military superiority and the result is the mess we are in five years later.

Blair's reason for war backfired. The only surprise is that he has somehow got away with it.

[RevFunk]

Good intentions?

We were lapdogs to the americans. WMD was a complete fabrication.

Apart from the oil the Americans wanted to pick on someone else because they couldnt find a bloke with a beard in a cave in Afghanistan.

Plenty of countries have oppresive regimes worse than Iraq

[Twenty20]

Did ANYONE actually believe the weapons of mass destruction lie?

And it's actually costing billions of pounds not millions. But Bush says we're apparently winning the war so its ok.

[Gromit]

The Cost (in money not lives):

So far, the two ongoing wars have cost the US $196.4bn.
If hidden costs are included it is more like $3trillion.

So far It has cost the UK �7bn (�80million a month). The annual cost is expected to double this year to �3.3bn

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7287525 .stm

[Kromovaracun]

In my view, Iraq was essentially an intelligence mistake which was made worse by opportunism.

In essence, I think Bush felt able to invade partly out of genuine belief in his 'war on terror' idea (and was convinced by Rumsfeld/Cheney on the WMDs) and in part thanks to confidence gained from widespread approval of Afghanistan.

Blair clutched hold of American coat-tails partly because of the popularity of Afghanistan (and maybe his successful deployment in Sierra Leone) and partly to pursue the Anglo-American relationship.

[PaulSabin]

And maybe it was to get a well paid job (the ones where you don't do anything but are on the payroll) post PM with some reconstruction / oil firm.