Everyone - a criminal investigation is underway, a public inquiry can wait

[Benbow]

I see dozens of people here jumping to conclusions. In the UK, a "public inquiry" is not the same as a criminal investigation.

Believe me, the Prime Minister is not saying that there should be no criminal investigation.

[mrfrapp]

1. Apples and Oranges

The public inquiry is meant to establish what went wrong, if anything, with the intelligence gathering and how the response could be improved, if at all. The two, a criminal investigation and a public inquiry aren't mutually exclusive.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

3. Wrong.

The public inquiry is being used by the tories as an excuse to skewer Blair. C'mon, guys.

[mrfrapp]

4. Clarification

I'm not disputing that the Tories are being opportunistic I was merely pointing out that the purpose of a public inquiry and a criminal investigation are different. I have no idea if a public inquiry is warranted but I'll give Blair the benefit of the doubt on this one.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

5. Agreed.

And what, exactly would they inquire about given that nobody yet knows what happened. :)

[The Backlash Cometh]

6. And skewering Blair is a bad thing?

Isn't the fact that we have a weak party in a two-party government part of America's problem? Let them skewer him. They'll get answers long before we will.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

7. Yes, it is.

When the skewer is being held by a bunch of racist, semi-fascist nut jobs.

[The Backlash Cometh]

8. Then they're useful idiots. Civility hasn't helped our country much.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

10. Heh heh. n/t

[Old and In the Way]

2. Well, it took Bush a year to get his story straight before we got a

"public inquiry". Just saying...

[kiki]

9. Let us not forget...

...that 9/11 was the other way round - a so-called "investigation" into intelligence failures, and no actual forensic investigation into the crime.

Mind you, it's hard to sift through all the evidence when you've shipped it all off and had it melted down. To be "sensitive".