Rubbing the lamp
When the news broke from the chambers of Judge Hutton that the government had been completely exonerated from the scandal of lying to the public about the 45-minute claim many could be forgiven for thinking that ended the whole issue.
Nay! My friends, Nay! What Tony Blair was cleared of narrowly pertained to the circumstances surrounding the death of Dr David Kelly and nothing about the greater issue of why we went to war.
For one, Mr Blair might as well have been on a treasure hunt two weekends ago and had found the legendary Aladdin's lamp.
The two escapes relating to the tuition fees and Judge Hutton's report were the two stipulated wishes of the genie.
After too many rubs, releases and recaptures, the genie had renegotiated the escape clause of offering just two wishes instead of the usual three.
Methinks the lamp is ready for another rub to produce a lot of smoke but no wish.
Smoking out the facts
Dubbiyew having seen the amazing Houdini of Great Britain rolling lots of BBC heads instead of his and those of his cohorts asked for a rub of the lamp too.
He wants to know the facts about the intelligent or lack of it that was so strenuously argued before congress, before Americans and before the UN in the quest for a coalition of the cajoled who would not be cowed.
Dubbiyew, you cannot handle the truth – one risks quoting Jack Nicholson during a fiery cross-examination by Tom Cruise in A Few Good Men.
If any good men come of out learning the truth from the real facts of why we went to war, they are most probably deserving of a posthumous decoration.
The Awful Truth
The purveyor of a certain programme called The Awful Truth contends that the truth is too awful to contemplate.
The ex-chief of the Iraq Survey Group – David Kay – has unruffled too uncomfortably the feathers of the vested interests that rammed us into the Iraqi quagmire; like quicksand; we are stuck and the more we struggle the more the concrete solidifies well above the torso.
In a last gasp of credulity, symbolising that exclusively close relationship between Great Britain and the United States
Wishing for a star
Only this time, the wishes have run out; to think they would weather the storm with the same aplomb as the British Houdini came out of last week is as wishful as the caveman who clobbered Beagle 2 as it landed gingerly on Mars. Evidence of life on Mars.
There is no doubt that the intelligence that supported the war persuasion efforts was unreliable, dated, exaggerated and uncorroborated.
Very much, like Andrew Gilligan's claims that lead to the death of Dr Kelly and the Hutton report.
However, if you are not in a position of great authority, you cannot get away with little lies, whilst those in authority can without scruples.
Like the Hutton report, expect surprises but be wary of the accepted truth.
