The question that will not go away from the life of Tony Blair is what did he know about WMD and what advice was given to him regarding his decision to enter the war against Iraq. Former foreign secretary Jack Straw is being asked by the Chilcot inquiry to explain his personal letter to the prime minister on the eve of invasion which urged reconsideration of the decision for war. The letter reportedly urged Blair to adopt a stance that British troops would be available once the invasion was completed to work in the area of cleaning up the mess of an aftermath of war. The exact contents of his letter are still a mystery and Blair defenders have argued Straw simply laid out options, but did no oppose the road to war.

In public, Straw has always maintained the invasion was legal and the result has proved beneficial to Iraq. He has also claimed most experts believed there were WMD. However, it is believed Straw agreed with former US Secretary of State Colin Powell there would be problems after a regime change. Of course, whenever someone claims “most experts” agreed there were WMD, nothing is said about UN “experts” who repeatedly said there were no WMD.

We await the final disclosure of the letter.