06/07/2016 BBC Newsline

The legacy of the war in Iraq dominates the news this evening.

Thousands of soldiers from Northern Ireland

served in the country, and one of their officers says

the families of those killed there deserve an apology.

Today the inquiry into the war was heavily critical of the decision

by then Prime Minister Tony Blair to go to war.

Mervyn Jess, who reported from Iraq at the time,

has been hearing the reaction of some of those who took

Short on, that is how the military commanders describe their

preferences in Iraq, which began in Baghdad. Today, Sir John Chilcot

outlined his findings after a seven year inquiry into the war, a war

that claimed hundreds of British lives and tens of thousands of Iraqi

lives. The UK choose to join the war in Iraq before the peaceful options

for design and had been explored. Military action at that time was not

a resort. Doug Beattie served in Iraq. I'm not surprised by anything.

I think we all knew that the decision to go to war was well

before they got permission to do so. I do think the Government need to

apologise to the family of the people who fought in Iraq and to the

Iraqi people who have suffered so badly because of this really bad

decision to go to war. This man was also an officer in the Royal Navy,

serving in the Gulf. It is very clear that is a damning indictment

of Tony Blair and all that he did. We did believe that Saddam Hussein

had weapons of mass structured and now we see from the evidence that

there wasn't any. As we begin to find out more and more, this wasn't

an issue of national security for the United Kingdom. The report

through this response from the former Prime Minister. I acknowledge

all the problems that came with that decision, the mistakes and accept

responsibility for them. What I cannot and will not do is say I

believe we took the wrong decision. I believe I made the right decision

and that the world is better and safer as a result of it. In 2003, I

reported from Iraq for BBC Newsline. Remnants of the old regime still

litter the countryside, but the emphasis now is very much about

empowering the local population and rebuilding Iraq. We believe and we

dream that our country will be better. A former Sergeant Major in

the Royal Irish Regiment reflected on the impact made well in Iraq. You

assume the political matters above are creating the right reasons for

going to such places, so that volatile region, did we make it

better at the time when I was there? I like to think we did. Do I think

that we left it in a better place? I'm not so sure. 13 years after it

ended, it is a war that is still making headlines.

Earlier I spoke to Colonel Tim Collins, who is best known

for a rousing speech he gave to the men of the First battalion,

the Royal Irish Regiment before the invasion.

The first thing is of course it was given to my men and my men alone and

the world eavesdropped on it. It was therefore only via consumption.

Secondly, we were going with what we believed was the case at the time.

If you know then what you know now, would you have them differently,

Dundee speech differently or even taking part? Some folks who probably

don't get out an awful lot think I was speaking to the world -- some

people. Do you think that men and women were sent to their death

unnecessarily? Not unnecessarily. The removal of Saddam Hussein's

regime was nothing but a good thing. But I do think the desperation of

those surrounding the Blair Government to try and bridge a the

British Government as some kind of softly softly peacekeeping

operation, that cost lives and that is something that is closer

examination. Would you have done anything differently? No, I think we

were entirely successful. We took more territory than any other

British unit, didn't lose any soldiers and I think we were very

successful. The family of a Dublin soldier,

who was shot dead while serving in British Army in Iraq,

say they are still very angry and very sad about what happened

to their loved one. Lance Corporal Ian Malone,

from Ballyfermot, was shot in the head by a sniper in April

2003 in Basra. His funeral was the first

with a uniformed British military Our Dublin correspondent

Shane Harrison's been We are never going to get closure.

It was wrong. He went out there to do a job and he wasn't able to do

that job. He was never going to be capable of doing that job. The boy

said came home with lucky that they got home. And we are still very

angry and we are still very sad that he's not here today to share our

lives. Given that Ian lost his life in Iraq, was it worth it, when you

look at the middle east now, the rise of IS, the fact that even in

the last few days there have been massive casualties in Baghdad?

Definitely not. They have made the country worse. I believe they made

the country worse than it was before the army went in. What do you think

of the Chilcot Report now? It's not something new to us, we knew all

along that this is what had happened. They were going to war no

matter what. They were very ill prepared to do that, but to see it

in black and white and deceivers has recognised that that is what was

done has made us as a family make us feel that we were right. We were

very angry at the time that our brother was killed and a lot of

other people, and these thousands of civilians are killed in Iraq, there

was no need of it. The leader of the Green Party,

Steven Agnew, was one of tens of thousands of people

here who marched in opposition He said Tony Blair should be held

responsible for the violence I certainly feel vindicated but I

feel incredibly frustrated that seven years later, after the report

was published 13 years after the war, that we still don't have a

determination in whether or not the war was legal. It is still my

contention that it was an illegal war and as the report does conform

to the microphone, we went to war without exhausting other options.

Colin Wallace, the former Army press officer who worked

in Northern Ireland in the 1970s, has refused to give

evidence to the Historical Institutional Abuse inquiry.

It heard today that in a statement made to police in 2004,

he contradicted allegations he had previously made about a cover-up

at Kincora Boys home in East Belfast and the still unsolved murder

in 1973 of the Belfast schoolboy, Brian McDermott.

A 38-year-old man has died following a crash in County Armagh.

The collision happened on the Red Lion Road

in Kilmore shortly after one o'clock this morning.

The Infrastructure Minister Chris Hazzard has announced that no more

water meters will be installed in new homes.

He described the practice as a waste of public money.

The meters have been placed in newly built houses since 2007,

although they have never been used as domestic properties don't pay

The Assembly will have to approve the decision to no longer

There were some sharp exchanges at Stormont today as MLAs

on the Education Committee questioned officials

The authority has been criticised for planning to reduce the hours

some disabled children will spend in special school nurseries

I know that we're going to be hearing from parents

And it is going to revert to much of what you have said.

I suppose one of the fundamental questions that I would ask

is, from your perspective why has this whole process been such

First of all, I don't accept that characterisation.

Secondly, we do need to remind all of us that virtually everybody who

works in support of children with special needs in Northern Ireland is

an employee of the Education Authority. So this is not us against

them, this is us, the employees, the employees of the Education

Authority. Yachts in the Clipper Round

the World boat race have been But there were poor conditions

for the Derry Londonderry yacht durra as our North-West reporter,

Keiron Tourish reports. It was an emotional

homecoming for the first They sailed up the Loch

Foyle this afternoon. LMax was the first boat to finish

the local leg of the race about five miles ahead

of the Derry Londonderry tour boat. Its crew was just delighted to be

back home after the 17-day So many boats and hundreds

of people lining the banks. I can't wait to see the city

itself when we get there. Crews in 12 yachts

sailing 40,000 miles Facing treacherous conditions

and stunning backdrops It draws people from all walks

of life, including students, solicitors and accountants

from all 44 different nationalities. The council spent a considerable

amount on the race For the last two Clipper races,

we've invested ?1.2 million and that's given us two boats

for those two years, an international profile around

the world, but also two major We expect a huge return for that

and 125,000 visitors came last year and we expect somewhere

in that ballpark again. It adds ?6 million

to the local economy. There will be plenty of activity

along the quay in the next week or so as the city plays host to this

major maritime festival. It will include food and music

from across the globe. It looks like we might finally get

a taste of summer tomorrow. With the details,

here's Geoff Maskell. A bit of a grey and damp day today.

But the last of the shower should push out to the east tonight.

Despite there's clear spells, we have got enough breeze to keep the

temperature is largely in double figures, 910 degrees overnight. The

next few days will be very nice indeed, dry and bright and feeling a

bit warmer. Tomorrow morning, we will be waking up to some beautiful

blue skies and plenty of sunny weather as we go through Thursday. A

very nice for Northern Ireland, some zones of weather. A band of cloud

and some showers across the central belt and to the north of that we are

into the clearer and fresher air. There will be a few showers around

but they will pass through Northern Ireland, a decent run of things the

top temperatures of 19 or 20 degrees. We might see a bit of rain

to the north-west. Friday is another good day, largely drive. Plenty of

bright and sunny spells. By the evening though, we start to see the

next weather system arriving and that will bring rain and signal a

change. That changes all being driven by this area of low pressure,

which is heading towards us for the weekend. Thursday and Friday will be

rather pleasant, Saturday and Sunday I'm afraid I going to be wet and

windy. It's a pretty miserable outlook for the weekend. Looking

ahead over the next four days, it is a day of two halves.

Our next BBC Newsline is at 6:25 tomorrow morning

You can also keep updated with News Online.