06/07/2016 Outside Source

Hello, I'm Ros Atkins, this is Outside Source.

After seven years, the Chilcot report into the UK's

involvement in the Iraq War has finally been published.

We have concluded that the UK chose to join the invasion of Iraq before

the peaceful options for disarmament had been exhausted. Military action

at that time was not a last resort. Tony Blair was the Prime

Minister at the time. He defended some of his decisions,

but admitted he had made mistakes. For all of this I expressed more

sorrow, regret and apology down you may ever know or can believe.

And still the consequences are felt by those in Iraq.

We've Jeremy Bowen's latest report on this Baghdad.

And I will be joined by John Simpson. If you have any questions

on the Chilcot report, tweet us. The UK's official inquiry

into the Iraq War has It has looked at the events before,

during and after the UK and the US Seven years is how long it's taken

Sir John Chilcot and his colleagues. There are many, many elements to it,

but Laura Kuenssberg is right when she says that the "key quote

is that the circumstances in which it was decided

that there was a legal basis for military action were far

from satisfactory". And the man who took longer

than the Iraq War itself to judge Then, not a sound in

the Westminster Conference Centre, where the Chilcot evidence

was heard, and where the families waited for a final few seconds

for the verdict that has We have concluded that the UK chose

to join the invasion of Iraq before the peaceful options for disarmament

had been exhausted. Military action at that time

was not a last resort. The judgments about the severity

of the threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction,

WMD, were presented Despite explicit warnings,

the consequences of the invasion The planning and preparations

for Iraq after Saddam Hussein The Government failed

to achieve its stated objectives. He found no evidence of deceit,

but simply the case The report says it is now clear that

policy on Iraq was made on the basis of flawed

intelligence and assessments. And he found a woeful lack

of forethought for British But were troops sent

into an illegal war? Nowhere in the 2.5 million

words of this report But the report suggests the conflict

may have broken the law. The circumstances in which it was

decided there was a legal basis for UK military action

were far from satisfactory. The report catalogued the growing

determination of Tony Blair and George Bush to take

on Saddam Hussein. At the Bush ranch in 2002,

a strategy for a UN ultimatum or A couple of months later,

in a previously-unseen note, Blair wrote, "I will be with you,

whatever," still urging him By September, flawed

intelligence led to this claim. Which could be activated

within 45 minutes... But his determination

was stronger than diplomacy. Tonight, British servicemen

and women are engaged Their mission, to remove Saddam

Hussein from power and disarm Iraq. A rapid toppling of the regime that

quickly turned to failure. Hopes of an easy transition

were turned to dust. British forces without the basics

they needed, humiliated, But Tony Blair, who made

the decisions, was full of sorrow and regret,

but still thinks he was right. The decision to go to war

in Iraq and to remove Saddam Hussein from power,

in a coalition of more than 40 countries, led by the United States

of America, was the hardest, most momentous, most agonising

decision I took in my ten years For that decision today,

I accept full responsibility. Without exception

and without excuse. The intelligence assessments made

at the time of going into war The aftermath turned

out to be more hostile, protracted and bloody

than ever we imagined. The coalition planned

for one set of ground facts And a nation whose people we wanted

to set free and secure from the evil of Saddam became instead a victim

to sectarian terrorism. For all of this, I express more

sorrow, regret and apology than you may ever

know or can believe. There were no lies, there was no

deceit, there was no deception. But there was a decision,

and it was a controversial decision, a decision to remove Saddam

and a decision to be with America. The point about being Prime Minister

is that you are a decision maker. You sit in the seat

and take the decision. Your obligation to the country is to

take it as you believe it to be. This report is a devastating

catalogue of the failures of your Government and paints a very

clear picture of a Prime Minister who was determined to act

with the United States Do you understand the sentiments

of some of the families who believe you ought not just to have said

sorry a long time ago, but now you should face

some kind of punishment? It is true, I took the decision

after 9/11 we should be In the end, what more can

I do than say to people, this is why I took

the decision I did? But please stop saying

I was lying or had some kind I had the motives

I explained. Some moments of decision,

moments of protest barely last. Some stir anger and anguish

and will never be forgotten. The Iraq inquiry may suggest

once and for all this Watching the report is John Simpson.

I wonder what your thoughts are as you see today unfold? It seems to

have been a catastrophic failure of decision-making.

Why did the Americans do it? They did it because 9/11 had made them

seem weak and they wanted to show they were still the prime military

power in the world. That was a failure, because in the end they had

to declare that they could not fight two wars at once, something they had

always claimed to be able to do. They were badly diminished. Why

should Britain get mixed up in it? It was always the notion in British

decision-making that we were stronger Wembley Stadium closer to

the United States. Tony Blair, for whatever reason, wanted to be really

close to the United States, closer than any body else. The problem with

this was that Britain ought to have brought along with it the immense

experience it has got in Iraq itself, apart from anything else,

many diplomats and administrators knew perfectly well what had to

happen in Iraq after the invasion, and it was completely ignored,

everything the British said should happen was just ignored by the

Americans. With the result, I go to Iraq quite often, it is a devastated

country, it has not even begun to pick itself up properly as a result

of what was done to it in 2003. Although Tony Blair and George Bush

have reiterated their belief that, despite the fact mistakes were made,

Iraq is better off without Saddam Hussein. A lot of people don't

necessarily agree with that. It is a comparison of two very unpleasant

realities. One under Saddam Hussein, who was probably the nastiest leader

in the world at that time, and now complete anarchy, with Isis going

around bombing people on a fairly regular basis, as we have seen in

the last few days. It is difficult to say which is worse, but what you

can say is that the basic structure of a country which used to hold

together has been pulled out from underneath it. Yes, it Saddam

Hussein had continued in power, there would have been trouble, he

was spoiling for a fight with the West, it would have happened, but it

would have happened in a different way. Tony Blair gave a long

statement today, he took questions for a long period of time, it was a

chance for all of us to listen to his side of things, he remained

somebody who can access many leaders around the world, his stature on the

world stage has not been diminished by the Iraq war, not entirely, but

nonetheless this has been a devastating critique of how he ran

the richest Government. It really has. It will be difficult for him to

maintain that same kind of influence that he has had in between times.

It was an absolutely devastating judgment on him. Some people said

the break in his voice was phoney, I don't think it was in the slightest.

I think he has taken it very much to heart. I think he is a greatly

diminished figure as a result. A word about Britain's standing in the

world, this is what you spend your time analysing, how we fit into the

globe we exist in, do you think the report will impact on that? It is a

combination of things that have diminished Britain.

The decision to leave the European Union is something which in other

countries around the world is regarded as diminishing Britain. You

might think there is nothing whatsoever to do that connects what

happened in Iraq with what happened two weeks ago in the referendum. I

think there was something that connected. People in Britain became

thoroughly disillusioned with politics and the promises and offers

and statements of politicians and we saw the final was all of that with

the vote to pull out from the European Union. People are sick of

politicians and what they were saying, they did not want to take

any notice. In the UK John will also be on the

ten PMQs after us. If you are interested in football,

this is what is happening between Wales and Portugal, the biggest

match in Welsh football history, but it is not going to plan. Cristiano

Ronaldo and Nani scoring goals in quick succession, it is a long way

back for Wales, but the game is still going, you can follow it

online. In OS business shortly we'll be live

in New York to talk about another poor day for global stock markets,

and the pound has fallen to its lowest level

against the dollar since 1985. Central London has been rocked by

terrorist attacks, there is growing speculation that Al-Qaeda was

responsible. The winner is... Germany.

The possibility of losing had not even been contemplated in South

Africa. Celebration parties were cancelled.

A man entered through a downstairs window and made his way to the

Queen's Private bedroom, then he asked her for a cigarette. She

summoned a footman on duty, who took the man away.

One child, one teacher, one book, and one pen can change the world.

Education is the only solution. This is Outside Source live

from the BBC newsroom. A long-awaited British inquiry

into the Iraq War has heavily criticised the British Government

for helping the US to invade before all peaceful options

had been exhausted. It also criticised planning for the

aftermath. Oscar Pistorius has been sentenced

to six years in jail. He'd already been convicted

of murdering his girlfriend He had faced a minimum of 15 years,

but the judge said there were mitigating factors.

BBC Pashto reports on President Obama's announcement today

that the US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan would slow down,

meaning more soldiers than originally planned will be

Lionel Messi will appeal against his conviction for tax fraud.

Earlier he was sentenced to 21 months in prison by a Spanish court.

He's also fined over 2 million dollars.

Neither, though, are expected to serve any time in jail

as short sentences in Spain are usually suspended.

Lots of people reading about that on the BBC News App.

We have the first semifinal at Euro 2016, Portugal leading Wales 2-0,

and Wimbledon, it the men's quarterfinals, it was a thriller,

but Andy Murray got through in the end. He gave us a scare. Yes, he

did, he gave the fans that have been flocking in their thousands, they

have gone home now, you should have seen some of the facial expressions

they were making, as he was leading 2-0 in sets, then Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

made an incredible comeback. It was Andy Murray's experience that shone

through. He has been so efficient and clinical, and he has a good

record against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, but in the third and fourth set he

had a wobble. His experience came through. Now that he has been raving

smug reunited with his coach Ivan Lendl, the has found his edge again,

he came through in the final set to take the match. He marches onto the

semifinal. This was his ninth straight quarterfinal in a row, he

is in the last four again, looking to add to the title that he won in

2013. Also, Roger Federer is through, but only just. Yes, again,

he gave the fans a scare, he is a very popular player, and he was

playing earlier, the first match of the day, on Centre Court, he was up

against Marin Cilic, a massive serve by him. He went 2-0 down in sets,

and at 34 you perhaps thought he was going to fail to come back, but

Centre Court saw something so special, he came back, he took the

third, fourth and fifth sets, and he is also through to the last four,

where he will play Thomas Burdick. Here is a fact, Cristiano Ronaldo

has never scored for -- from a free kick in 34 attempts in a major

international tournament, but he has just gone close against Wales. It

remains to- Sea Road to Portugal. -- 2-0.

Global stock markets have fallen and the pound has hit another

31-year low as Brexit worries continue to rattle markets.

The Ftse 100 share index closed 1.25% lower, while earlier

the pound dropped to $1.2798, its lowest since 1985,

How long do you think this can go on? I feel like I have said it has

hit a new low quite a few times in the last two weeks. If you believe

what some analysts have to say, like Goldman Sachs, you are going to say

it a few more times in the coming days and weeks. Goldman Sachs

believes the pound could fall even lower. All of this has to do with

Brexit, investors are losing some confidence, based on some comments

from Mark Carney, when he said that some of those fears of Brexit are

starting to crystallise. It had an impact on the value of the pound.

Quite often I say it is a 31 year low, what happened in 1985 that

caused it to be so weak's --? It did not have as much do with the pound

as it did with the American dollar. The US was coming out of a

recession. Ronald Reagan was the president, and he had a policy of a

strong dollar. You saw the value of the American dollar really shoot up.

That put pressure on other currencies. It was not that the

pound was weak, the dollar was strong. We will talk again very

soon. There is a huge rescue and relief

operation under way in China because of a week of severe rain along the

Yangtze River in Central and southern China. 120 people have lost

their lives, more than a million have been forced to leave their

homes. Two thirds of the country has been affected. This report comes

from Wuhan in the east of China. Just after 7pm in the evening, this

intersection should be bustling with people heading home from work. Aside

from a few brave ones, there is nobody getting through this water

tonight. It is almost up to my knees, because they have had a

record amount of rainfall in the city of Wuhan in the last six days,

the most in their recorded history. Tens of thousands of people, mostly

in the suburbs, have been moved out of their homes, thousands of homes

have been destroyed. What we are seeing is infrastructure, roads,

telecommunications affected, and farmland across swathes of the

country has been flooded. This is an idea of the scale of the relief and

rescue operation in the two thirds of China that has been affected by

these storms. This city is five or six hours away, it shows the scale

of the devastation and the task that lies ahead for the emergency

services. China's premiere was in Wuhan today, he is overseeing the

effort, the president of China has deployed more members of the

military to join in the rescue operation. For now there is some

respite. There is no rain tonight, it gives them a chance to continue

the clear up operation, but the city remains on red alert, the most

severe alert. What they are most worried about is what is to come.

The forecasters know there is a typhoon currently around the

Philippines are heading towards the south-east coast of China, due to

hit into three days, and they worry it will cause severe wind, and even

more rain. The big concern is all of those dams on the River hold the

water. Can they hold back the torrent of water they have seen in

the last six days? What they fear is a repeat of what they had 18 years

ago. The dams and tributaries failed and they had a disaster on a much

more significant scale. Few have seen our coverage of the

Chilcot report, there is extensive information about it online as well

as here on the television, you can get it through the BBC News at.

Speak to you in a couple of minutes.