Soldier’s fury that Iraq war Chilcot report could be used to prosecute British troops… while Tony Blair escapes scot-free
MPs say the former Prime Minister should not escape justice and should be 'stripped of all honours'
SOLDIERS have reacted with fury at news they could be prosecuted for war crimes in Iraq - while Tony Blair will avoid investigation.
The Chilcot Report - due to be published on Wednesday - will be used by prosecutors in The Hague probing for evidence of soldiers' crimes.
But the report will not be used to look into the former Prime Minister's role in taking Britain to war, amid accusations he misled Parliament.
MPs are demanding that the ex-Prime Minister who took Britain into war in 2003 should not escape justice and should be 'stripped of all honours'.
Sergeant Kevin Williams, a soldier who was cleared of shooting dead an Iraqi after 12 years, told the development was "disgusting".
Families of those killed in Iraq have also expressed outrage.
Tony Blair says it is best to wait until Wednesday and see what the Chilcot Inquiry report brings.
Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court (ICC) have announced they will examine the Chilcot report for evidence of abuse and torture by British soldiers.
If they find any evidence of war crimes in the 2.6million word report , which will be published on Wednesday, British soldiers could face prosecution.
But they have ruled out putting the former Prime Minister on trial for war crimes.
The ICC says it is beyond its remit to investigate the decision taken by Blair to join the USA in going to war in Iraq in 2003.
In the statement to , the Office of the Prosecutor at the ICC said: “We will take note of the Chilcot report when released in the context of its ongoing preliminary examination work concerning Iraq/UK.
“A preliminary examination is not an investigation but a process aimed at determining whether reasonable basis exist to open an investigation.
“As already indicated by the Office in 2006, the 'decision by the UK to go to war in Iraq falls outside the Court’s jurisdiction’.”
The ICC prosecutor’s office in The Hague, Holland, says the ICC is looking at introducing a “crime of aggression” which would cover illegal invasions but that “has not yet crystalised and in any event, will not apply retroactively”.
Grieving relatives have condemned the ICC’s position and says it must look at the possibility of legal action against Blair.
Roger Bacon, whose son Matt, a major in the Intelligence Corps, was killed in a roadside bomb in 2005, is outraged by the decision.
He said: “It is double standards.
“These soldiers have gone out to do their best for us and here they are being hounded and yet the guy who took them there is not being looked at.
“That is completely wrong and disgusting.
“It is bad enough the ICC are examining these allegations of abuse in the first place but to use the Chilcot report to further their investigation does not seem right at all particularly if they are not going to look at Blair.”
And Reg Keys, whose son Tom was one of six Royal Military Police killed at Majar al-Kabir in 2003, said: “The ICC should be using the Chilcot report as a basis for a legal action against Tony Blair not as ammunition against British soldiers for alleged abuse.”
Mr Keys, who stood against Blair in the 2005 general election, added: “It makes me very angry.
“They don’t call him Teflon Tony for nothing.”
The Chilcot report is released on Wednesday and is expected to conclude Blair’s government misled the public about the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq before launching what many people still believe was an illegal war.
The Crown Prosecution Service has considered prosecuting Blair twice but both times decided to take no action.
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But The Telegraph reports he may also face legal action from families, who may try to sue him for “misfeasance in public office” or negligence on the grounds he exceeded his powers and that led to mass casualties.
The publication of the report, seven years after Sir John Chilcot began his inquiry, will also lead to renewed attempts by MPs to resurrect attempts to impeach Mr Blair.
These attempts are led by former SNP leader Alex Salmond.
In an email sent to MPs last month he said: “If, as I believe, that Chilcot finds that there was a prior commitment from Blair to [George] Bush at Crawford Ranch [President Bush’s Texas home] in 2002 that would provide the reason for pursuing the matter further.”
Tory backbencher Sir David Amess is one of the MPs who is backing Salmond’s efforts.
He told : “I suspect the report will be shocking and a damning indictment of that Government and particularly Tony Blair who was in charge.
“If Chilcot finds that he did lie then I’m sure the families of those servicemen and women who died in that war will want to see justice done.”
And the SNP deputy leader Jim Sillars said Mr Blair could face trial in Scotland if ‘retrospective legislation’ was introduced.
He said: “When Chilcot comes out, then I think the SNP and Holyrood [Scottish Parliament] which led the great anti-war demonstration in Glasgow, will again be placed on the spot, with the power to bring this man to justice.
“While retrospective legislation is usually regarded as obnoxious, in respect of Nazi war criminals there has been retrospective legislation.
“Blair is in no different category as them. So the same should apply to him.
“The SNP and the Greens have a sufficient majority to bring in a special retrospective act which brings him to a court in Scotland.”
In an interview with CNN last October Tony Blair did not apologise for the war and defended the armed intervention in 2003.
But he did apologise that “the intelligence we received was wrong”.
And on Sky News today he said: 'I’ve said many times I will wait for the report and then I will make my views known and express myself fully and properly.
“I’ve taken the view that we should wait for the report to be published. I’m not getting into the politics or the detail of it.
“I don’t know (why people people hate me) – there may be lots of reasons for it - but politics is a strange business.
“'But you’ve always got to think back.
“I had great times leading the Labour Party.
“Despite all the controversies over issues like Iraq, there were many good things we managed to do for the country.
“Whatever people say there’s still an important to be done – and a job that, if you manage to get to it, you should count yourself privileged.
“I think it’s best we wait for Wednesday and let’s see what the report brings.
“When it comes, then I can respond properly, but it’s not possible and certainly not appropriate for me to comment at this stage.
“There will be a very, very full debate and I can absolutely assure you I will be participating in it fully.”