06/07/2016

:00:09. > :00:17.Our top story, more than 13 years after Tony Blair sent British troops

:00:18. > :00:20.to fight in Iraq, families of the 179 UK service personnel

:00:21. > :00:22.who died in the conflict await the findings of Sir

:00:23. > :00:35.We just want a closure of it and the MoD to at least perhaps meet us or

:00:36. > :00:40.at least say yeah, there were failings. This is what the failings

:00:41. > :00:42.were and hopefully they will correct it in the future.

:00:43. > :00:45.Ahead of the report's publication, we'll be looking at the key issues

:00:46. > :00:46.it's expected to address and political fall-out

:00:47. > :00:51.We'll also be talking to Iraqis about the conflict and the thousands

:00:52. > :01:13.I can have my life to when before everything happened. I would go to

:01:14. > :01:15.Iraq without any hesitation, it is impossible, isn't it?

:01:16. > :01:17.And thousands of Wales fans head to France for the biggest football

:01:18. > :01:22.We'll be speaking to some of them as they pray for success and a place

:01:23. > :01:54.The sentencing of Oscar Pistorious is under way. Let's listen in. In

:01:55. > :01:58.compelling circumstances. But has left it to the courts to make that

:01:59. > :02:17.determination. Fortunately the correct approach in this regard is

:02:18. > :02:23.set out in S 2001 volume one ACR 469, SCA. I have to rephrase this.

:02:24. > :02:37.Fortunately the correct approach in this regard is set out in 2001, Vop

:02:38. > :02:44.1, ACR 469, SCA, there the Supreme Court of Appeal stated the

:02:45. > :02:50.following. "In short, the legislator aimed at ensuring a severe

:02:51. > :02:56.standardised and consistent response from the courts to the commission of

:02:57. > :03:04.such crimes. Unless there were and could be seen to be truly convincing

:03:05. > :03:08.reasons for a different response. When considering sentence the

:03:09. > :03:14.emphasis was to be shifted to the objective gravity of the type of

:03:15. > :03:19.crime and the public's need for effective sanctions against it. But

:03:20. > :03:26.that did not mean that all other considerations were to be ignored.

:03:27. > :03:31.The discretion to decline, to pass the sentence which the commission of

:03:32. > :03:36.such an offence would ordinary airline have tracked was given to

:03:37. > :03:42.the courts in recognition of the easily foreseeable injustices which

:03:43. > :03:43.could result from obliging them to pass the specific sentences come

:03:44. > :04:13.what may." 353, SCA in brackets at paragraph 15

:04:14. > :04:21.the following was said, "It is clear from the terms in which the test was

:04:22. > :04:27.framed and endorsed that it is incumbent upon a court in every case

:04:28. > :04:31.before it imposes a preascribed sentence to assess upon

:04:32. > :04:38.consideration of all the circumstances of the particular case

:04:39. > :04:43.whether the prescribed sentence is indeed proportionate to the particle

:04:44. > :04:50.offence. The constitutional court made it clear that what it meant by

:04:51. > :04:54.the offence in that context, I leave out something, consists of all

:04:55. > :05:03.factors relevant to the nature and seriousness of the criminal act

:05:04. > :05:07.itself. As well as all the relevant personal and other circumstances

:05:08. > :05:12.relating to the offender which could have a bearing on the seriousness of

:05:13. > :05:19.the offence and the culpability of the offender. If a court is indeed

:05:20. > :05:25.satisfied that a lesser sentence is called for in a particular case,

:05:26. > :05:29.thus justifying the departure from the prescribed sentence then it

:05:30. > :05:35.hardly needs saying that the court is bound to impose that lesser

:05:36. > :05:43.sentence. That was also made clear in this case which said that the

:05:44. > :05:47.relevant provision in the Act vests the sentencing court with power and

:05:48. > :05:52.indeed the obligation to consider whether the particular circumstances

:05:53. > :05:57.of the case would require a different sentence to be imposed.

:05:58. > :06:09.And a different sentence must be imposed if the court is satisfied

:06:10. > :06:15.that substantial and compelling circumstances exists which justify

:06:16. > :06:21.it." Paragraph 22 puts it this way - the more a court feels uneasy about

:06:22. > :06:26.any imposition... STUDIO: Let's leave that for the

:06:27. > :06:31.moment. Proceedings are live from Pretoria. The judge has been setting

:06:32. > :06:38.out from 8.30am our time, legislation regarding the 15 year

:06:39. > :06:44.minimum sentencing for this kind of crime and what discretion she has

:06:45. > :06:48.available to her. So she is setting out the kind of previous legislation

:06:49. > :06:52.regarding 15 year minimum sentencing for murder and what discretion is

:06:53. > :06:56.available to her. She is going through it in minute detail. And we

:06:57. > :06:58.will, of course, come back to the proceedings during the course of the

:06:59. > :07:01.programme. Our top story, more than seven years

:07:02. > :07:04.after it was set up, the Chilcot Inquiry

:07:05. > :07:06.into the Iraq War will publish It's more than 13 years

:07:07. > :07:10.since Tony Blair committed British forces to the US-led invasion that

:07:11. > :07:12.toppled Saddam Hussein. Tens of thousands of Iraqis died

:07:13. > :07:15.along with 179 UK service personnel. Claims that the Iraqi leader had

:07:16. > :07:18.weapons of mass destruction Tony Blair has said he does not

:07:19. > :07:28.regret removing a brutal dictator. The inquiry was asked to identify

:07:29. > :07:30.what lessons should be learned. Its chairman, Sir John Chilcot,

:07:31. > :07:33.has said he hopes future military action won't be launched

:07:34. > :07:39.without more rigorous analysis. It's seven years since his inquiry

:07:40. > :07:45.was established and more than five years since he concluded the public

:07:46. > :07:48.examination of witnesses. Now, finally, Sir John Chilcot

:07:49. > :07:54.is ready to publish his findings. Last night, he was unrepentant

:07:55. > :07:56.that the task has taken so long. To get to the bottom

:07:57. > :08:01.of what happened over a nine year period, with all the legal,

:08:02. > :08:03.military, diplomatic and intelligence and

:08:04. > :08:05.political aspects of it, Sir John is not expected

:08:06. > :08:12.to offer a judgement None of his team is a lawyer

:08:13. > :08:21.and this wasn't part of his remit. The principle areas

:08:22. > :08:23.on which it is thought he will offer conclusions

:08:24. > :08:25.are the nature of the relationship between Tony Blair and the then US

:08:26. > :08:28.President, George W Bush and the extent to which Mr Blair

:08:29. > :08:30.gave Mr Bush private undertakings without the backing either

:08:31. > :08:33.of his Cabinet or Parliament that Britain would join

:08:34. > :08:37.the invasion of Iraq. Sir John is thought to have been

:08:38. > :08:40.greatly exercised by the style of Mr Blair's so-called

:08:41. > :08:42.sofa Government with, it is suggested, far too little

:08:43. > :08:44.opportunity for the Cabinet to discuss issues in particular,

:08:45. > :08:47.the vexed question of Central to everything in the lead-up

:08:48. > :08:56.to war was the use of intelligence provided by the Secret

:08:57. > :08:58.Intelligence Service MI6. Why were its warnings that

:08:59. > :09:03.intelligence were sketchy ignored? Did the then chief of MI6,

:09:04. > :09:07.Sir Richard Dearlove, allow his service to be pressurised

:09:08. > :09:10.by Tony Blair's officials to the extent that the Prime

:09:11. > :09:13.Minister made misleading The main expectation that I have

:09:14. > :09:20.is that it will not be possible in future to engage in a military

:09:21. > :09:23.or indeed, a diplomatic endeavour on such a scale and on such gravity

:09:24. > :09:31.without really careful challenge, analysis and assessment

:09:32. > :09:37.and collective political judgement In other words, Sir John Chilcot

:09:38. > :09:43.would appear to have concluded that Britain was taken to war in Iraq

:09:44. > :09:46.without sufficient discussion and without a sufficient

:09:47. > :09:57.understanding of the real facts. Our Political Correspondent Chris

:09:58. > :09:59.Mason is in Central London, where Sir John Chilcot

:10:00. > :10:10.will release his report The timetable for today Chris and

:10:11. > :10:15.the potential political fall-out? Yes, good morning, Victoria from the

:10:16. > :10:18.Queen Elizabeth Centre where victims families have gathered. They are

:10:19. > :10:29.looking through the report right now. Despite its volume and the time

:10:30. > :10:34.scale that Sir John and his team have been examining the events

:10:35. > :10:37.between 2003 and 2009 there is a vast burden on the somehoweders of

:10:38. > :10:40.this report in terms of the expectations that many of the

:10:41. > :10:44.families have, or the questions that they have, they hope this report can

:10:45. > :10:47.offer some answers to. As you say, the political consequences of today

:10:48. > :10:51.and obviously, there will be huge questions for Tony Blair and for

:10:52. > :10:55.many of the senior figures of the Blair administration at the time

:10:56. > :11:01.that the UK headed to war, but then also, the spectacle, that one of the

:11:02. > :11:07.leading voices of opposition at the time, in Jeremy Corbyn the Labour

:11:08. > :11:10.leader, one of the founders of the Stop the War Coalition will be at

:11:11. > :11:13.the dispatch of the House of Commons offering his verdict, his analysis,

:11:14. > :11:17.given that he argued from the very outset that the war was a mistake

:11:18. > :11:22.and who would have predicted back then that a marginal voice on the

:11:23. > :11:26.Labour backbenchers, albeit one who became pretty central to a vibrant

:11:27. > :11:31.campaign to prevent the war happening should be delivering his

:11:32. > :11:35.verdict, his political assessment on one of his predecessors from the

:11:36. > :11:37.dispatch box of the House of Commons.

:11:38. > :11:40.Joanna is in the BBC Newsroom with more of the day's news.

:11:41. > :11:42.The Iraqi Health Ministry says the number of people now known

:11:43. > :11:45.to have been killed in Sunday's suicide bombing in Baghdad

:11:46. > :11:48.The attack, claimed by the Islamic State group,

:11:49. > :11:50.is now the deadliest in the Iraqi capital

:11:51. > :12:02.The South African Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius is due to be

:12:03. > :12:04.sentenced today for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva

:12:05. > :12:08.Pistorius could face 15 years in prison after he was convicted

:12:09. > :12:16.That ruling came after the State successfully appealed

:12:17. > :12:18.against an earlier verdict of manslaughter for which Pistorius

:12:19. > :12:23.has served nine months of a five-year sentence.

:12:24. > :12:26.The first round of votes for the Conservative leadership

:12:27. > :12:27.took place yesterday with the Home Secretary,

:12:28. > :12:29.Theresa May, winning by a considerable margin.

:12:30. > :12:31.Dr Liam Fox received the lowest number of votes

:12:32. > :12:37.Stephen Crabb also said he won't put himself forward for the next round.

:12:38. > :12:48.Both have said they will now back Theresa May.

:12:49. > :12:50.There's continued volatility in financial markets

:12:51. > :12:53.in the aftermath of the UK's vote to leave the European Union.

:12:54. > :12:55.In Asian trading, the pound hit a new 31 year low.

:12:56. > :12:58.Analysts say investors are diverting funds to what are seen

:12:59. > :13:09.as safe havens, principally government bonds.

:13:10. > :13:12.A patient lay dead for up to four-and-a-half hours before

:13:13. > :13:14.being found at one of London's busiest A and E departments,

:13:15. > :13:16.according to a new report from health inspectors.

:13:17. > :13:22.North Middlesex University Hospital Trust says it is "extremely sorry"

:13:23. > :13:25.for the problems in its emergency unit.

:13:26. > :13:28.Protests have taken place in the US state of Louisiana after a video

:13:29. > :13:31.emerged appearing to show two white police officers holding down

:13:32. > :13:35.The incident took place in the state capital, Baton Rouge,

:13:36. > :13:37.on Tuesday after reports of a man threatening people with a gun

:13:38. > :13:41.Alton Sterling, 37 died of gunshot wounds to the chest and back.

:13:42. > :13:43.That's a summary of the latest BBC News.

:13:44. > :13:53.In a moment, we'll be asking some of the politicians who voted

:13:54. > :13:57.on going to war in Iraq what they're hoping to hear from the Chilcott

:13:58. > :14:06.It is out at 11am. Much of the programme will be dominated as we

:14:07. > :14:12.build up to that publication, we will be talking to people with a

:14:13. > :14:15.military background, those with security expertise, politicians at

:14:16. > :14:21.the time who were there as the decisions were made and of course,

:14:22. > :14:26.bereaved relatives of those who were killed during that war. Also today,

:14:27. > :14:29.we are awaiting the sentencing of South African athlete, Oscar

:14:30. > :14:38.Pistorious. Sentencing began at about 8.30am. Let's dip back into

:14:39. > :14:47.proceedings. Was in the minds of most people portrayed as the

:14:48. > :14:51.confident, 1.84 meters tall, strong ambitious person winning gold

:14:52. > :14:59.medals. This obscured the relevant fact that at the time the accused

:15:00. > :15:04.shot at the toilet door and killed the deceased, it was 3 o'clock in

:15:05. > :15:11.the morning and dark. He was not wearing his prothesis, but was on

:15:12. > :15:19.his stumps and measured 1.5 meters in height and felt vulnerable. The

:15:20. > :15:23.third had to do with emotions of the public emanating from the

:15:24. > :15:28.perceptions above. Defence counsel submitted that because of these

:15:29. > :15:33.emotions there was a danger that the true facts might escape the general

:15:34. > :15:37.public who may then have unreasonable expectations in terms

:15:38. > :15:46.of an outcome. I shall come back to these submissions later. Counsel for

:15:47. > :15:49.the State sought to argue that Mrs Steenkamp's pain had nothing to do

:15:50. > :15:54.with any perception he might have had about what led to the death of

:15:55. > :15:57.the deceased and that in fact, to link the two would be to diminish a

:15:58. > :16:10.father's real pain. I don't think anything anyone says

:16:11. > :16:19.or does can diminish the pain felt by the victim 's family. The pain is

:16:20. > :16:21.they are, real and tangible. Nevertheless the misperception that

:16:22. > :16:33.there was an argument before the deceased was shot and killed and

:16:34. > :16:42.that the accused was guilty of murder... Cannot be ignored. To do

:16:43. > :16:47.so may not serve the ends of justice. I return to submission by

:16:48. > :16:52.counsel for the accused concerning the public 's perception of what may

:16:53. > :17:00.have happened on the 14th of their 2013. The submissions by defence

:17:01. > :17:06.counsel have merit, insofar as some members of the public is concerned

:17:07. > :17:11.cannot be disputed. I am therefore constrains to accept that all the

:17:12. > :17:16.submissions which were made with good reason. Had it not been for the

:17:17. > :17:24.unique features of this case and the wide publicity the case has

:17:25. > :17:31.attracted I would probably have dismissed such submissions as in

:17:32. > :17:37.proper and unnecessary. -- improper. I say this for the following

:17:38. > :17:45.reasons. Our courts are court of law, not court of public opinion.

:17:46. > :17:54.While judicial offices are expected to adjudicate matters without fear,

:17:55. > :18:00.fever and prejudice. The court is aware that natural indignation of

:18:01. > :18:05.interested persons in all of the community at large should and does

:18:06. > :18:09.receive some recognition in the sentences the court impose as

:18:10. > :18:31.counsel for the state correctly argued.

:18:32. > :18:37.However in my view such indignation must be based on facts as reflected

:18:38. > :18:45.in the evidence properly placed before court under oath and tested

:18:46. > :18:51.under cross examination. Where are wrong perception about a particular

:18:52. > :18:56.fact exists, as it does in this matter, and has been brought to the

:18:57. > :19:01.attention of the court, it is the duty of the court to correct it and

:19:02. > :19:10.put the correct facts in perspective to prevent unjustified outrage from

:19:11. > :19:14.the public. It is appropriate that the state says something about the

:19:15. > :19:31.limited role of public opinion in the sentencing as set out in 1997.

:19:32. > :19:42.There it was stated that the object of sentencing was not to

:19:43. > :19:50.satisfy public opinion but to serve for lead public opinion or the

:19:51. > :19:54.public interest. He stated that sentencing policy which catered

:19:55. > :20:03.predominantly or exclusively for public opinion was inherently

:20:04. > :20:06.flawed. It was the court 's duty to impose an appropriate and fair

:20:07. > :20:14.sentence fearlessly, even if the sentence did not satisfy the public.

:20:15. > :20:22.He further stated the following, public opinion may have some

:20:23. > :20:29.relevance to the enquiry but in itself it is no substitute for the

:20:30. > :20:33.duty vested in the courts. The court cannot allow itself to be diverted

:20:34. > :20:39.from its jute it to act as an independent arbiter by making

:20:40. > :20:49.choices on the basis that they will find favour with the public. In the

:20:50. > :20:53.present case public opinion may be loud and persistent but it can play

:20:54. > :20:58.no role in the decision of this court. The objective facts on the

:20:59. > :21:04.merits in this matter are on records and do not warrant repetition for

:21:05. > :21:09.purposes of the present procedure. So far as it is to state that the

:21:10. > :21:15.defence counsel correctly submitted those facts have not been disturbed

:21:16. > :21:25.as no further evidence was led on appeal. It is those facts, not

:21:26. > :21:31.conjecture and certainly not suppositions, which will guide this

:21:32. > :21:35.court in its decision. The defence counsel is correct in the submission

:21:36. > :21:51.that this court ought not to lose sight of the fact that Oscar

:21:52. > :21:59.Pistorius who shot and killed the deceased was not the acclaimed Oscar

:22:00. > :22:02.Pistorius who defied odds on the racecourse and won medals. My view

:22:03. > :22:07.is that even without the physical demonstration which took place in

:22:08. > :22:17.court to show the difference between on his stumps and the accused on his

:22:18. > :22:23.prosthetic legs, it is easy to see that we are here dealing with two

:22:24. > :22:34.different persons. This was clearly set out by Professor Scholes in his

:22:35. > :22:40.earlier report. This evidence was not contradicted and the assessment

:22:41. > :22:45.of the accused personality in this matter is not far fetched in my

:22:46. > :22:53.view. To ignore this fact would be to lead to an injustice, in my view.

:22:54. > :22:59.However it is also important to keep in mind that the accused is just one

:23:00. > :23:06.of the many considerations in the sentencing process. There are others

:23:07. > :23:14.equally important and they also have to be taken. Into account. I

:23:15. > :23:24.understood counsel for the defence to be contending, though not in so

:23:25. > :23:31.many ways, for a long custodial sentence. Relying on the report of

:23:32. > :23:38.Professor Scholes he submitted earlier that a custodial sentence

:23:39. > :23:43.would serve no purpose as the accused had been rehabilitated. He

:23:44. > :23:49.based his submissions on the fact that the accused had completed a

:23:50. > :23:59.number of courses and had attended workshops whilst he was in

:24:00. > :24:03.incarcerated. Rehabilitation is only one of the purposes of punishment.

:24:04. > :24:10.The other purposes, namely retribution, deterrence, Reformation

:24:11. > :24:20.and prevention are just as important and ought to be properly addressed

:24:21. > :24:25.as well. The degree with which each will feature in any sentencing

:24:26. > :24:28.procedure will depend on the crime the accused has been found guilty of

:24:29. > :24:36.as well as the circumstances of each case. Circumstances in this matter

:24:37. > :24:44.have changed as the accused has now been found guilty of murder, a more

:24:45. > :24:51.serious offence than culpable homicide. Having regard to the

:24:52. > :24:58.changed circumstances the rehabilitation programmes that the

:24:59. > :25:04.accused was exposed to during his incarceration may or may not be

:25:05. > :25:08.sufficient. For present purposes. That is now that the accused has

:25:09. > :25:17.been found guilty of a more serious crime. It is not for this court to

:25:18. > :25:20.determine the sufficiency or insufficiency, that is the

:25:21. > :25:28.prerogative of the prison authorities if the accused is sent

:25:29. > :25:31.to prison. This court however is obliged to and does take into

:25:32. > :25:41.consideration the fact that the accused successfully completed the

:25:42. > :25:45.programmes referred to above. This in my view is an indication that the

:25:46. > :25:50.accused is a good candidate for rehabilitation and that the other

:25:51. > :25:55.purposes of punishment, though important, what not to play a

:25:56. > :26:03.dominant role in the sentencing process. Also to be taken into

:26:04. > :26:10.consideration is the fact that the accused has already spent some time

:26:11. > :26:19.incarcerated in prison serving his original sentence. I may add that a

:26:20. > :26:25.contrary impression to whether the accused was a good candidate for

:26:26. > :26:32.rehabilitation may have been created perhaps inadvertently during the

:26:33. > :26:37.cross-examination of Professor Scholes when it was put to him that

:26:38. > :26:44.initially the accused had difficulty adjusting as an inmate. Professor

:26:45. > :26:52.Scholes was quick to disagree with such a statement stating that the

:26:53. > :26:57.accused was not a violent person. The basis of the disagreement was

:26:58. > :27:02.not clear to me as no one had said anything about the accused being

:27:03. > :27:09.violent by nature. What was said was simply a fact as observed by the

:27:10. > :27:15.author of the report that initially the accused struggled to adjust as

:27:16. > :27:21.an inmate and cited relevant examples of an acceptable conduct. I

:27:22. > :27:27.did not get the impression from this report or from anything stated by

:27:28. > :27:32.anyone during the proceedings that prison authorities were trying to

:27:33. > :27:41.vilify the accused or brand him as a violent person. On the contrary,

:27:42. > :27:46.from the documentation placed before this court and the evidence the

:27:47. > :27:52.impression I got was that after the initial challenges the accused had

:27:53. > :27:59.to adjust, he had made progress and was cooperating with prison

:28:00. > :28:02.authorities. The fact that the accused may perhaps be quick

:28:03. > :28:09.tempered does not necessarily mean he is a violent person. Defence also

:28:10. > :28:18.sought to rely on Professor Scholes evidence that the accused needed to

:28:19. > :28:26.be hospitalised as his condition had worsened since the last time he saw

:28:27. > :28:31.him in 2014. I am in agreement with counsel for the state that Professor

:28:32. > :28:38.Scholes evidence in this regard is not convincing. I say this for the

:28:39. > :28:43.following reasons. One, there was no confirmation from the accused

:28:44. > :28:49.treating psychiatrist that the accused condition was such that his

:28:50. > :28:57.admission to hospital was warranted. Two, no steps were taken to have the

:28:58. > :29:00.accused admitted to hospital, notwithstanding that according to

:29:01. > :29:06.Professor Scholes he had discussed the issue with the accused

:29:07. > :29:14.psychiatrist. The inference is irresistible that the psychiatrist

:29:15. > :29:21.is not the court -- does not support the view of Scholes on the matter.

:29:22. > :29:25.The determination of an appropriate sentence which satisfies every

:29:26. > :29:30.relevant interest is never easy. It is made even more difficult by the

:29:31. > :29:40.fact that nothing that this court will do or say today shall bring

:29:41. > :29:44.back the life of the deceased. As stated earlier each case must be

:29:45. > :29:48.assessed on its own facts in search of balance between the accused

:29:49. > :29:56.personal circumstances, the gravity of the offence, the interest of

:29:57. > :30:03.society as well as the victim of the offence committed. All these have

:30:04. > :30:10.been taken into account. Earlier I set out the impact that the crime

:30:11. > :30:15.committed by the accused has had on the family of the deceased. It is

:30:16. > :30:23.difficult to fully describe its ramifications. What was evident from

:30:24. > :30:27.the testimony of both Mr Steenkamp and Miss Martin is that their lives

:30:28. > :30:34.shall never be the same. Details of what they went through and are still

:30:35. > :30:42.going through as a family have been described above. Thankfully healing

:30:43. > :30:52.has already started as both Mr Kemp two and Mrs Steenkamp have stated

:30:53. > :30:56.they have given the accused. -- both Mr Steenkamp and Mrs Steenkamp have

:30:57. > :31:02.stated they have forgiven the accused. The accused has lost his

:31:03. > :31:06.career and fallen financially. Having taken the life of a fellow

:31:07. > :31:11.human being in the manner he did he cannot be at peace.

:31:12. > :31:19.It came as no surprise when his pastor and Professor Scholes

:31:20. > :31:27.described him as a broken man. Recovery is possible. But it will

:31:28. > :31:36.depend mostly on the accused's attitude to the punishment imposed

:31:37. > :31:39.on him. This court is aware that the accused, threw his pastor has shown

:31:40. > :31:47.a willingness and expressed a wish to do community work as punishment.

:31:48. > :31:54.That is a noble gesture. However, punishment is not what you choose to

:31:55. > :32:01.do, it is something that is imposed on you by its very nature,

:32:02. > :32:06.punishment is unpleasant, it is uncomfortable, it is painful, and it

:32:07. > :32:14.is inconvenient. It is certainly not what you love to do. I have

:32:15. > :32:18.considered the evidence in this matter, the submissions and argument

:32:19. > :32:23.by counsel as well as the relevant case law and other authorities.

:32:24. > :32:28.Although a custodial sentence a the proper sentence, I am of the view

:32:29. > :32:34.that a long-term of imprisonment will not serve justice in this

:32:35. > :32:39.matter. The accused has already served a sentence of 12 months

:32:40. > :32:44.imprisonment. He is a first offender and considering the facts of this

:32:45. > :32:53.matter, he is not likely to reoffend. The sentence that I impose

:32:54. > :33:00.will have to reflect, not only that fact, but also the seriousness of

:33:01. > :33:06.the offence. It will in so far as it is possible have to be fair to the

:33:07. > :33:17.accused as well as to the deceased's family and society at large. Mr

:33:18. > :33:26.Pistorius, please rise. In the result the sentence that I

:33:27. > :33:40.impose on the accused for the murder of the deceased that is Reeva

:33:41. > :33:46.Steenkamp is six years imprisonment. Once more I'd like to thank counsel,

:33:47. > :33:54.all counsel involved for the assistance. I would like to thank

:33:55. > :34:01.all the officers of this court and all the staff of this court. In the

:34:02. > :34:07.meantime, I will adjourn and I will be in chambers just in case I have

:34:08. > :34:12.to come back to court. Counsel might like to consider whether or not they

:34:13. > :34:20.want to apply for leave to appeal. I'm willing to hear it today if that

:34:21. > :34:24.is what counsel want. STUDIO: So Oscar Pistorious has been

:34:25. > :34:31.jailed for six years for the murder of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.

:34:32. > :34:36.He will spend the next six years in custody as Judge Masipa read out her

:34:37. > :34:41.sentence, Mr Pistorius was completely impassive and then the

:34:42. > :34:46.camera cut to the parents of Reeva Steenkamp and there was, it looked

:34:47. > :34:50.to me, like some shock from Reeva Steenkamp's relatives and friends in

:34:51. > :34:57.the public gallery. Judge Masipa has spent just over an hour now going

:34:58. > :35:00.through the case in minute detail, for most of that, Oscar Pistorious

:35:01. > :35:04.was sitting with his head bowed, occasionally you could see the

:35:05. > :35:09.parents of Reeva Steenkamp, June and Barry, listening intently, the judge

:35:10. > :35:13.said, "Our courts are courts of law, not courts of public opinion and

:35:14. > :35:18.public opinion will play no role in the decision of this court." She

:35:19. > :35:21.said that the accused was a good candidate for rehabilitation and she

:35:22. > :35:27.also said the fact that he had a quick temper did not mean he was a

:35:28. > :35:30.violent person. She noted too, that Reeva Steenkamp's parents had

:35:31. > :35:35.forgiven him. She described him as a fallen hero. She said Oscar

:35:36. > :35:42.Pistorious cannot be at peace for taking the life of a human being.

:35:43. > :35:45.She said punishment has to be uncomfortable and inconvenient and

:35:46. > :35:49.noted he had already served 12 months in prison and that he was a

:35:50. > :35:55.first offender and he was not likely to reoffend. And that a long term in

:35:56. > :35:59.prison would not serve justice, those are the words of the judge.

:36:00. > :36:04.She then asked Oscar Pistorious to rise and sentenced him to six years

:36:05. > :36:08.in jail for the murder of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. She

:36:09. > :36:14.talked earlier about minimum sentencing for such a crime being 15

:36:15. > :36:21.years and talked about what discretion was available to her to

:36:22. > :36:27.alter that kind of sentence. A fallen hero, she described Oscar

:36:28. > :36:32.Pistorious as. Oscar Pistorious was, she said, a long term in prison will

:36:33. > :36:36.not serve justice and when she announced that he would be spending

:36:37. > :36:40.the next six years in jail, he did not react. He was completely

:36:41. > :36:47.impassive. His eyes were locked on the judge. And the cameras cut to

:36:48. > :36:53.the parents of Reeva Steenkamp. It took, I think, several seconds for

:36:54. > :37:00.the sentencing to sink in for those in the courtroom, particularly the

:37:01. > :37:05.friends and family of Ms Steenkamp. So the sentenceling finally, the end

:37:06. > :37:11.of Oscar Pistorious' trial, the sentencing today, six years in jail

:37:12. > :37:16.for the murder of Reeva Steenkamp. Obviously, we will bring you much

:37:17. > :37:24.more reaction to that sentence. It is not clear if Mr and Mrs

:37:25. > :37:28.Steenkamp, the parents of Reeva will say anything on the court, if their

:37:29. > :37:34.lawyers do, then you will hear that live on this programme. The judge

:37:35. > :37:39.also said that she would accept from the Steenkamp lawyers any lodging of

:37:40. > :37:47.an appeal if they wanted to appeal against that sentence then they

:37:48. > :37:52.could do that today. More on the reaction to the sentence

:37:53. > :37:56.of Oscar Pistorious throughout the programme.

:37:57. > :37:58.It's more than 13 years since Tony Blair committed British

:37:59. > :38:03.For the families of the 179 service personnel who died

:38:04. > :38:06.during the conflict it's been an incredibly long wait for answers,

:38:07. > :38:13.answers about why we went to war, who made mistakes and lessons that

:38:14. > :38:17.For the last hour, politicians and bereaved families have been

:38:18. > :38:21.locked away reading Sir John Chilcot's report

:38:22. > :38:27.No easy task, this stack of paper shows how long it is.

:38:28. > :38:33.At 11am, its findings will be made public.

:38:34. > :38:35.These are some of the things we already know.

:38:36. > :38:40.To put that in context, the Bible has 775,000 words.

:38:41. > :38:49.It'll span 12 volumes, plus an executive summary.

:38:50. > :39:02.Plus the panel reviewed 150,000 documents to produce this report.

:39:03. > :39:05.Members of the public will have to pay that ?800 though

:39:06. > :39:08.or it can be read for free on the inquiry's website.

:39:09. > :39:14.2.6 million words, seven years in the making.

:39:15. > :39:17.This is the report that many hope will get close to the truth

:39:18. > :39:27.A retired civil servant, he spent much of his life

:39:28. > :39:31.In 2009, then Prime Minister Gordon Brown appointed him to chair

:39:32. > :39:45.Now is the right time to ensure we have the proper process in place

:39:46. > :39:47.to learn the lessons of this complex and often

:39:48. > :39:50.It looks at the years between 2001 and 2009.

:39:51. > :39:54.That takes us from the build-up to war and the search

:39:55. > :39:57.for weapons of mass destruction through to the looting and violence

:39:58. > :40:06.We are determined to be thorough, vigorous, fair and frank.

:40:07. > :40:10.It has heard evidence from more than 150 witnesses including

:40:11. > :40:14.then Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, former spy chief,

:40:15. > :40:19.Sir John Scarlett and then Prime Minister, Tony Blair.

:40:20. > :40:24.What I was saying to President Bush was very clear and simple.

:40:25. > :40:27.You can count on us, we'll be with you in tackling this,

:40:28. > :40:31.The report was first meant to be published in 2010.

:40:32. > :40:35.There were rows about which secret intelligence could be seen

:40:36. > :40:37.by the inquiry but the biggest factor has been something

:40:38. > :40:39.called Maxwellisation, named after this man,

:40:40. > :40:44.It means anyone criticised in a report like this has a right

:40:45. > :40:56.We won't know for sure until Sir John Chilcot speaks at 11am

:40:57. > :41:00.but here are three key questions we expect some answers to.

:41:01. > :41:04.What went wrong with intelligence gathering in the run-up to war?

:41:05. > :41:07.In particular, the key claim that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction

:41:08. > :41:15.The Government later admitted that claim was false.

:41:16. > :41:17.Question two, when did Tony Blair and the British Government make

:41:18. > :41:23.Did the former Prime Minister secretly promise the US his support

:41:24. > :41:24.while telling the public nothing was decided?

:41:25. > :41:28.And what plans were made for Iraq after the invasion?

:41:29. > :41:32.Were British troops stationed in Basra properly equipped

:41:33. > :41:37.for the dangerous job they were asked to do.

:41:38. > :41:40.The inquiry is not a court of law and can't find anyone guilty

:41:41. > :41:42.but it can make recommendations and blame individuals

:41:43. > :41:46.A group of MPs have said they could call for legal action

:41:47. > :41:51.against Tony Blair if the report is highly critical.

:41:52. > :41:59.Let us talk now to Labour MP Mike Gapes who says he'd vote

:42:00. > :42:08.He's had problems getting here this morning so he joins us on the phone.

:42:09. > :42:10.Conservative MP John Barron who resigned from the Shadow Cabinet

:42:11. > :42:18.John McTernan, Tony Blair's former Director of Political Operations.

:42:19. > :42:20.Steven Powles, an international criminal lawyer, and Frank Dobson,

:42:21. > :42:23.the Labour MP who voted against war with Iraq.

:42:24. > :42:30.Welcome all of you. I would like to start with you Mr Gapes explain why

:42:31. > :42:39.you would vote for the Iraq war again? Because if Saddam Hussein or

:42:40. > :42:43.his son had been in power in 2011 we would have had an even worse

:42:44. > :42:50.situation than the 500,000 dead in Syria as a result of that regime.

:42:51. > :42:56.Saddam had a history of killing his own peoplement he used chemical

:42:57. > :43:05.weapons against the Kurds in 1998 and he invaded Iran in 198 o and he

:43:06. > :43:11.invaded Kuwait in 1991 and he then killed 100,000 Shias in the marsh

:43:12. > :43:16.Arabs who went against him in 1991. Saddam was a calculated murderer and

:43:17. > :43:20.he has therefore, made the situation far worse than anybody else in the

:43:21. > :43:25.region in terms of the abuses of Human Rights and the murder of his

:43:26. > :43:30.own people and his neighbours. John, Baron what do you say? I disagree,

:43:31. > :43:32.Mike, if you applied that logic, we would be applying the law of the

:43:33. > :43:36.jungle to the international community. Every country who thought

:43:37. > :43:39.they had a gripe against an individual could go on and invade,

:43:40. > :43:43.we were told there were weapons of mass destruction, it turned out

:43:44. > :43:49.there weren't. We went to war on a false premise, I think we should all

:43:50. > :43:55.recognise that is the case, was that an intentional deception by Number

:43:56. > :44:01.Ten other or not? We wasn't to war on a false premise and many, many

:44:02. > :44:05.people suffered as a result of that. John McTern nan, the false premise,

:44:06. > :44:08.was it intentional? Was it a deception of the British people, do

:44:09. > :44:11.you believe? Of course, it wasn't a deception of the British people. We

:44:12. > :44:17.went to defence of the United Nations. There had been 17 UN

:44:18. > :44:22.Security Council resolutions. Saddam's regime were frustrating the

:44:23. > :44:27.ability of the United Nations to inspect weapons. If Saddam right up

:44:28. > :44:30.until the point of invasion, if Saddam had opened everything to Hans

:44:31. > :44:36.Blix and the inspectors he would still be there now. Those inspectors

:44:37. > :44:40.did want more time, didn't they? Those inspectors, there were 17

:44:41. > :44:46.resolutions, they had years and years, even at the last moment, even

:44:47. > :44:51.though Saddam knew that he was under a deadline he still frustrated what

:44:52. > :44:55.Hans was doing. You can't in the end say that someone has a deadline and

:44:56. > :45:02.then not act otherwise you deprive the UN of all authority. There was

:45:03. > :45:09.no UN resolution sanking war. It was ambiguous. It could have been

:45:10. > :45:12.interpreted both ways. At the end of the day, we couldn't carry the

:45:13. > :45:18.French or a loft international community with this. This was an

:45:19. > :45:22.endeavour by Britain andth US to get rid of Saddam Hussein. The

:45:23. > :45:27.justification of that WMD proved false. Even if there was a UN

:45:28. > :45:35.resolution, it would have been stupid to do it because I made a

:45:36. > :45:40.speech about a month before we went to war and people say some things

:45:41. > :45:45.were predictable, they were predicted. I wanted to know what

:45:46. > :45:47.arrangements had been made to govern Iraq after we invaded. There were no

:45:48. > :45:55.arrangements made. I predicted people would start

:45:56. > :46:03.falling out and killing one another and the placement turn, into broad.

:46:04. > :46:07.I also predicted it would promote terrorism all over the middle east,

:46:08. > :46:11.there was terrorism in the Middle East but it gave it a big boost and

:46:12. > :46:16.all those things were predictable. I am not an expert on the Middle East,

:46:17. > :46:22.I wasn't then and I'm not know. Did you believe there were weapons of

:46:23. > :46:25.mass destruction? I did not. Why not, some intelligence forces were

:46:26. > :46:31.telling us they were weapons of mass to structure and which were being

:46:32. > :46:35.concealed? It seemed to meet the policy of containment and continued

:46:36. > :46:42.inspection was keeping things reasonably and order. But then we

:46:43. > :46:46.invade and it all falls apart and the idea we have established a sort

:46:47. > :46:57.of secure democracy in Iraq, a large chunk of Iraq is now controlled by

:46:58. > :47:01.Islamic State. Mike Gapes, do you not accept what Frank Dobson has

:47:02. > :47:10.just said, that the policy of containment seemed to be working?

:47:11. > :47:15.Well, the Saddam Hussein regime was not in anyway complying with the UN

:47:16. > :47:22.resolutions. There were real fears that he had nuclear weapons

:47:23. > :47:29.aspirations, he had used chemical weapons against his own people and

:47:30. > :47:34.he also was clearly in a position where many Iraqis were dying. Young

:47:35. > :47:40.children were dying. People at the time were calling for the lifting of

:47:41. > :47:43.sanctions on humanitarian grounds. The oil for food programme was being

:47:44. > :47:49.stolen by Saddam Hussein and his regime. We have also been joined by

:47:50. > :47:53.Lord Faulkner who is a close friend of Tony Blair, you were not involved

:47:54. > :47:58.in the decision-making at the time, but as someone who was in the inner

:47:59. > :48:03.circle, did you know that the intelligence on weapons of mass

:48:04. > :48:08.destruction was being presented in a much more emphatic way that was

:48:09. > :48:14.actually accurate? I don't think that it was, I think the position

:48:15. > :48:18.was that although the bits of intelligence being relied on were

:48:19. > :48:21.sporadic and patchy, to use the language of the intelligence

:48:22. > :48:25.reports, all the intelligence agencies, not just in the UK but

:48:26. > :48:30.America, France, Germany, were pretty clear that he had weapons of

:48:31. > :48:35.mass to structure in. That was reflected in the fact that the

:48:36. > :48:41.United Nations from 1991-2002 had passed after resolution posited on

:48:42. > :48:45.the basis he had weapons of mass to structuring. Then when weapons

:48:46. > :48:52.inspectors went in and could not find anything, what were you

:48:53. > :48:57.thinking? There had been weapons inspectors in between 1991 and 1998

:48:58. > :49:02.and they had not found anything but in 1996 the son-in-law of Saddam had

:49:03. > :49:07.come out and said the weapons inspectors had missed biological

:49:08. > :49:13.weapons. The fact that Saddam Hussein had forced out the weapons

:49:14. > :49:18.inspectors in 1998 led to the conclusion that he had done that to

:49:19. > :49:26.try to hide something. Is that not a fair enough assumption? Yes and no.

:49:27. > :49:30.We would all agree that war has to be the last resort when all other

:49:31. > :49:34.options have been explored and this wasn't the case. All the evidence

:49:35. > :49:39.since and I hope the Chilcot enquiry also looks at this, there were spin

:49:40. > :49:45.doctors working within the system making the case for war. Turning

:49:46. > :49:51.possibilities into probabilities, burning indications into assumption.

:49:52. > :49:58.That is true John McTernan? That is nonsense. You read the dossier?

:49:59. > :50:06.Rueda the nonsense is that there were spin doctors working on the

:50:07. > :50:11.evidence. The legal advice, the evidence that was based on, there

:50:12. > :50:15.were not spin doctors working on it and it's outrageous to say the

:50:16. > :50:22.British civil service who were accumulating this evidence which as

:50:23. > :50:27.the phrase goes was patchy, that they were themselves spinning that

:50:28. > :50:38.material. It's is shameful allegation. It's just nonsense.

:50:39. > :50:44.There was an organisation working and making the case for war,

:50:45. > :50:51.spanning the information. You are an international criminal lawyer, the

:50:52. > :50:56.remit of the Chilcot report does not involve looking at the war was legal

:50:57. > :51:02.or not but does it have significance in legal terms? Absolutely, when a

:51:03. > :51:06.state decides to employ its Armed Forces against another state it must

:51:07. > :51:09.be in accordance and compliance with international law. In this case you

:51:10. > :51:13.had advice being given to the government by the Attorney General

:51:14. > :51:16.and it's important to look at the quality of that advice and see if

:51:17. > :51:26.the advice given was correct and accurate. No matter how bad Saddam

:51:27. > :51:31.Hussein was, you cannot just use force to take them out, it has to be

:51:32. > :51:35.in compliance with the international framework and that is what it is

:51:36. > :51:40.important to look at going forward, taking sure that all future uses of

:51:41. > :51:45.force are complied with international law. You said earlier

:51:46. > :51:48.it was ambiguous but respectfully I disagree. The consensus of

:51:49. > :51:53.international legal opinion is that there was a breach of the UN

:51:54. > :52:02.Charter. Former Secretary General Kofi was interviewed and said there

:52:03. > :52:06.was a breach of the charter. If the Chilcot report Lord Faulkner does go

:52:07. > :52:14.down that road would you expect to see cases brought by Brive families

:52:15. > :52:18.against your friend Tony Blair? I understand Sir John Chilcot will not

:52:19. > :52:21.express a view about the legality or otherwise and I understand that on

:52:22. > :52:29.the basis that that is what has been indicated in the past. I think what

:52:30. > :52:33.Stephen is saying, it does not address the nature of the revolution

:52:34. > :52:40.1441 which was in effect saying you have 30 days to come into full

:52:41. > :52:48.compliance at and if you don't all necessary steps will be taken. The

:52:49. > :52:52.invasion occurred for in a half months after the 30 days were up. I

:52:53. > :52:59.don't think anyone disputes Saddam Hussein had failed to comply with

:53:00. > :53:03.1441. Lawyers can debate whether or not that was a matter of

:53:04. > :53:08.construction did allow the use of force but what any government has to

:53:09. > :53:16.do is rely on its chief legal adviser. Let me as all of you what

:53:17. > :53:20.it is, what answers you would like today, Frank Dobson? I would like to

:53:21. > :53:24.know why we went to war and it looks as though we did it because a stupid

:53:25. > :53:31.American president wanted to go to war and we didn't want to fight with

:53:32. > :53:35.him. I would like to know the lessons of governing in a

:53:36. > :53:46.post-conflict situation. You are happy with the decisions taken? Of

:53:47. > :53:50.course I am. WMD was the justification used strongly on the

:53:51. > :53:55.House of Commons, I would therefore like to know given that we all now

:53:56. > :54:01.know we went to war on a false premise, was that deception

:54:02. > :54:04.intentional by number ten? That's a key question we should have

:54:05. > :54:11.answered, but whether it is answered is another matter. I think an

:54:12. > :54:16.important lesson to learn from this is that it is imperative we pay more

:54:17. > :54:21.heed to the international rule of law. That we encourage and support

:54:22. > :54:25.institutions like the International criminal Court so there can be an

:54:26. > :54:28.end to impunity and war crimes and crimes against humanity and when it

:54:29. > :54:35.comes in the crime of aggression in the years to come. I think what is

:54:36. > :54:40.important is what Frank said, how did the decisions get made, was it

:54:41. > :54:44.done honestly or dishonestly? How did the intelligence services end up

:54:45. > :54:51.in the wrong place and what planning was done? It's the facts which

:54:52. > :54:55.matter and that is what Sir John Chilcot has to produce. Thank you

:54:56. > :54:59.all very much for coming on the programme, thank you for your time

:55:00. > :55:04.and patience. The breaking news, Oscar Pistorius has been sentenced

:55:05. > :55:09.to six years in jail for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

:55:10. > :55:12.Late last year the Supreme Court of Appeal in South Africa overturned

:55:13. > :55:17.his conviction of manslaughter instead finding him guilty of

:55:18. > :55:30.murdering Reeva Steenkamp in 2013. Judge Masipa today handed down the

:55:31. > :55:36.sentence. Mr Pistorius please rise. In the result of the sentence that I

:55:37. > :55:41.impose on the accused for the murder of the deceased Reeva Steenkamp is

:55:42. > :56:00.six years imprisonment. Lets talk to our correspondent

:56:01. > :56:04.outside the High Court in Pretoria. Describe the atmosphere in the

:56:05. > :56:12.courtroom as the sentence was handed down? The judge stated that she felt

:56:13. > :56:19.Oscar Pistorius showed remorse throughout the trial and therefore

:56:20. > :56:21.the mitigating circumstances outweighed the aggravating

:56:22. > :56:25.circumstances which is why Oscar Pistorius has not been given the

:56:26. > :56:29.minimum sentence of 15 years for murder. The judge believes Oscar

:56:30. > :56:34.Pistorius, if he was to serve longer jail sentence, would not serve

:56:35. > :56:38.justice. Therefore Oscar Pistorius was sentenced to six years.

:56:39. > :56:43.According to South African law it means he will have to serve 50% of

:56:44. > :56:49.the sentence also taking into consideration he has already spent

:56:50. > :56:53.one year in prison for culpable homicide so that will also be taken

:56:54. > :57:01.into consideration. Oscar Pistorius cried after the judge said he has

:57:02. > :57:05.been sentenced, we saw him hugging his sister before being taken

:57:06. > :57:11.downstairs to the holding cells. Oscar Pistorius will serve his first

:57:12. > :57:17.night in prison today. There will be some in South Africa suggesting that

:57:18. > :57:21.sentence isn't enough? That's correct, it depends who you ask

:57:22. > :57:26.because those people who support Oscar Pistorius believe the fact he

:57:27. > :57:29.has already served one year in jail means he has already been punished

:57:30. > :57:34.enough and should not have been given a further six years. But those

:57:35. > :57:39.who support Reeva Steenkamp's family say six years is not enough and that

:57:40. > :57:44.a 15 year minimum sentence should have been imposed. Thank you for the

:57:45. > :57:47.moment. More to come on the sentence of Oscar Pistorius in the next hour

:57:48. > :57:51.of the programme and we will continue to build up to the

:57:52. > :57:59.publication of the Chilcot report into the Iraq war. The report itself

:58:00. > :58:03.published finally after years at 11. Let's get a weather update.

:58:04. > :58:12.The fine weather on display today, we have not said that too often this

:58:13. > :58:16.summer, lots of sunshine to start. It was pretty chilly first thing but

:58:17. > :58:20.with the help of blue sky and reasonably strong July sunshine

:58:21. > :58:24.temperatures are claiming. Another cracking day in Shetland. The clouds

:58:25. > :58:33.starting to build up elsewhere, throwing quite a lot of sunshine so

:58:34. > :58:36.things are turning hazy but the high pressure keeping things drive. There

:58:37. > :58:40.will be thickening cloud, a few spots of rain likely particularly to

:58:41. > :58:45.the north of Northern Ireland and it will get damp across West are part

:58:46. > :58:49.of Scotland. Elsewhere the breeze is significant because it is lighter

:58:50. > :58:53.than yesterday so it feels a bit warmer. Western Scotland, staying

:58:54. > :58:58.fine across the north-east, we may catch a light shower across Cumbria

:58:59. > :59:02.but generally England and Wales staying fine and any of those

:59:03. > :59:10.showers in the next few hours should fade. The cloud will spill in,

:59:11. > :59:15.feeling quite warm outside. Temperatures up to 19, 20, 21 or 22

:59:16. > :59:23.in a few places. Should be pleasant for a men's quarterfinal day at

:59:24. > :59:31.Wimbledon, sunny skies. And sunny in France, a balmy evening for Portugal

:59:32. > :59:35.against Wales. Pretty pleasant if you're in Wales watching the game as

:59:36. > :59:40.well, should be fine in Cardiff on the big screen. Further north we

:59:41. > :59:47.will see wet and windy weather, some of the range rattling into Northern

:59:48. > :59:53.England and North Wales. Into tomorrow and it's a mixed picture,

:59:54. > :00:02.high-pressure trying to hold on in the South, the dangling weather

:00:03. > :00:06.front across the UK. It will bring quite a grey day, Northern England

:00:07. > :00:11.and North Wales dull and damp, some brightness may be to the Pennines.

:00:12. > :00:15.Brighter day in western Scotland and Northern Ireland, would be as

:00:16. > :00:20.pleasant in Shetland tomorrow. Further south again generally fine

:00:21. > :00:24.hazy sunshine and quite warm. It will be cooler where the weather

:00:25. > :00:27.front is lying. The weather front will be around on Friday and will

:00:28. > :00:32.bring some showery outbreaks of rain which could be heavy for a time but

:00:33. > :00:36.still quite warm and humid air across the South so could get up to

:00:37. > :00:40.23 degrees and into the weekend a mixed picture set to continue.

:00:41. > :00:58.Coming up before 11am: Our top story, more than 13 years

:00:59. > :01:03.Oscar Pistorious is sentenced to six years for the murder of his

:01:04. > :01:08.girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. The sentence that I impose on the

:01:09. > :01:12.accused for the murder of the deceased that is Reeva Steenkamp is

:01:13. > :01:28.six years imprisonment. More than 13 years

:01:29. > :01:30.after Tony Blair sent British troops to fight in Iraq,

:01:31. > :01:33.families of the 179 UK service personnel who died

:01:34. > :01:47.in the conflict await the findings It shouldn't have taken all those

:01:48. > :01:52.years. It is the big one for Wales and

:01:53. > :01:58.Sally is back in France and looking very happy. Yeah, fantastic

:01:59. > :02:02.atmosphere here in Lyon already. It is the biggest game in Welsh

:02:03. > :02:04.football history. They are playing in the semifinals of the Euros

:02:05. > :02:06.tonight. They're playing Portugal and of course, that man, Cristiano

:02:07. > :02:16.Ronaldo. Here's Joanna Gosling

:02:17. > :02:18.in the BBC Newsroom The South African athlete,

:02:19. > :02:27.Oscar Pistorius, has been jailed for six years for the murder

:02:28. > :02:29.of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. He had initially been convicted

:02:30. > :02:31.of culpable homicide before being found guilty of the more

:02:32. > :02:34.serious offence by an appeal Pistorius had been facing

:02:35. > :02:41.a prescribed minimum jail But the sentencing judge,

:02:42. > :02:46.Thokozile Masipa, said there were a number of mitigating

:02:47. > :03:04.factors including the impact Mr Pistorius, please rise. In the

:03:05. > :03:13.result the sentence that I impose on the accused for the murder of the

:03:14. > :03:17.deceased that is Reeva Steenkamp is six years imprisonment.

:03:18. > :03:20.The long-awaited Chilcot report into the invasion of Iraq in 2003

:03:21. > :03:25.It's chairman, John Chilcot, says he hopes military intervention

:03:26. > :03:28.on such a scale will not be possible in the future without more careful

:03:29. > :03:35.The war ended Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq, but left 179

:03:36. > :03:36.British military personnel and hundreds of thousands

:03:37. > :03:41.Jack Straw, the former Foreign Secretary said

:03:42. > :03:53.Well, I'm just on the way to read the report, I have not yet seen it,

:03:54. > :03:58.so you will have to forgive me. I shall be making lots of comments

:03:59. > :04:02.after I've read the report, but not in advance. Was Jeremy Corbyn right

:04:03. > :04:06.about the Iraq war? As I said, I've not read the report, with great

:04:07. > :04:08.respect you have to wait until I've read the report. Was it worth the

:04:09. > :04:16.tens of thousands of deaths? The Iraqi Health Ministry says

:04:17. > :04:18.the number of people now known to have been killed in Sunday's

:04:19. > :04:21.suicide bombing in Baghdad The attack, claimed

:04:22. > :04:25.by the Islamic State group, is now the deadliest

:04:26. > :04:30.in the Iraqi capital The first round of votes

:04:31. > :04:35.for the Conservative leadership took place last night

:04:36. > :04:37.with the Home Secretary, Theresa May, winning

:04:38. > :04:40.by a considerable margin. Dr Liam Fox received

:04:41. > :04:42.the lowest number of votes Stephen Crabb also said he won't put

:04:43. > :04:48.himself forward for the next round. Both have said they will now back

:04:49. > :04:51.Theresa May as the next leader There's continued volatility

:04:52. > :05:00.in financial markets in the aftermath of the UK's vote

:05:01. > :05:03.to leave the European Union. In Asian trading, the pound

:05:04. > :05:07.hit a new 31 year low. Analysts say investors are diverting

:05:08. > :05:10.funds to what are seen as safe havens, principally

:05:11. > :05:13.government bonds. Protests have taken place in the US

:05:14. > :05:16.state of Louisiana after a video emerged appearing to show two white

:05:17. > :05:18.police officers holding down The incident took place

:05:19. > :05:25.in the State capital, Baton Rouge yesterday

:05:26. > :05:27.after reports of a man threatening Alton Sterling died of gunshot

:05:28. > :05:34.wounds to the chest and back. That's a summary of

:05:35. > :05:46.the latest BBC News. Thank you very much for your

:05:47. > :05:52.comments as we build up to the publication of the Sir John Chilcot

:05:53. > :05:55.Report. Hazell said, "I would like to hear a comment on the tens of

:05:56. > :06:00.thousands of Kurdish people who died of chemical poisoning at the hands

:06:01. > :06:05.of Saddam Hussein. Does that the count as weapons of mass

:06:06. > :06:08.destruction?" Ian says, "Blair took us to war without established good

:06:09. > :06:12.causes and he failed to consider the consequences." Alex text this, "I

:06:13. > :06:16.went to the second Gulf War. Tony Blair should be in court. I believe

:06:17. > :06:22.he told lies to the whole country to get us involved in this action."

:06:23. > :06:28.More of those to come in the next hour of the programme. If you're

:06:29. > :06:31.getting in touch, use the hashtag Victoria live and you can text as

:06:32. > :06:36.well, if you do, you will be charged at the standard network rate.

:06:37. > :06:41.Here's Sally - using your heart and your head -

:06:42. > :06:46.will Wales beat Portugal tonight and get to the final?

:06:47. > :06:55.Oh Victoria, don't ask me! That's really cruel! Using my heart,

:06:56. > :06:59.absolutely, yes. Yes. Using my head, my worry is this - this is the worry

:07:00. > :07:04.of lots of fans I've spoken to, Cristiano Ronaldo has not really had

:07:05. > :07:08.a good game yet. He hasn't fulfilled his potential and if there is any

:07:09. > :07:12.moment for him to do it, it is tonight against Wales. That's not

:07:13. > :07:15.what my heart is saying, but that's what my head is saying, is that

:07:16. > :07:25.enough of an on the fence answer for you? It'll do for an on the fence

:07:26. > :07:29.answer. Sorry. It's all right! We have been hearing from the Wales

:07:30. > :07:32.camp. I can tell you yesterday the players had an opportunity to have a

:07:33. > :07:35.look around the stadium which is not, we're in the centre of town,

:07:36. > :07:39.the stadium is some miles that way, but they have had a chance to have a

:07:40. > :07:42.look around the stadium, get to know their surroundings and make

:07:43. > :07:45.themselves feel comfortable ahead of tonight and I tell you what,

:07:46. > :07:50.wherever they go, Wales are looking comfortable at the moment, but of

:07:51. > :07:54.course, that star man for them, Gareth Bale, all eyes are on him and

:07:55. > :07:59.he is feeling just as confident ahead of tonight as he has before

:08:00. > :08:04.every game so far. I think we under staun maybe not quite how big

:08:05. > :08:08.because we're really in this bubble here, we are able to see things

:08:09. > :08:12.online or on the TV, but we are not so much involved in the stuff so it

:08:13. > :08:17.is difficult to see the magnitude, I suppose of it back at home, but we

:08:18. > :08:21.understand, we know what's going on, but we just have to concentrate on

:08:22. > :08:25.ourselves and on our football and doing what we do best and that's

:08:26. > :08:30.kicking a football around. So yeah, we're just going to keep trying to

:08:31. > :08:33.do as best we can and trying to make everyone even more proud than they

:08:34. > :08:37.are and yeah, hopefully then after the tournament we can look back at

:08:38. > :08:45.the scenes and really gauge what was going on. Well, that's what Gareth

:08:46. > :08:48.Bale thinks about their progress so far. Even having got to a semifinal,

:08:49. > :08:54.is an incredible achievement for Wales, just to play here tonight, to

:08:55. > :08:57.get all this way through, with their history, is a fantastic achievement

:08:58. > :09:01.for them and I think as the years go on, we might look back on this time

:09:02. > :09:07.in Welsh football and think, you know, these are the glory days for

:09:08. > :09:11.them and Chris Coleman has done something, very, very special with

:09:12. > :09:14.this side, as far as the Football Association of Wales is concerned,

:09:15. > :09:18.their Chief Executive Jonathan Ford says they can go further. The boys

:09:19. > :09:20.want to go the whole way. We are in the semifinal of the European

:09:21. > :09:25.Championships, that's a fantastic success. The first British team

:09:26. > :09:29.since 1996, we get to the final and be the first British team since

:09:30. > :09:32.1966, that would be unbelievable, but we're happy with what we've

:09:33. > :09:37.done. We're not satisfied yet, we don't want to go home!

:09:38. > :09:43.We know this tournament has been incredibly emotional for the French

:09:44. > :09:46.side. Lots of them, of course, know Gary Speed very well who was the

:09:47. > :09:50.manager to died in November 2011. This whole journey for them has been

:09:51. > :09:55.emotional as they've gone on because of, corks they are the team that

:09:56. > :09:58.Gary Speed worked with. He changed things significantly for them and

:09:59. > :10:02.modernised things for the Welsh team. Chris Coleman, of course, has

:10:03. > :10:07.done lots and lots of work since then, but a short time ago, I spoke

:10:08. > :10:14.to Gary's dad Roger and he said the thing that strikes him most about

:10:15. > :10:19.this side is their spirit. They have bonded really, really

:10:20. > :10:22.well. They are like brothers, very proud, but don't take it away from

:10:23. > :10:26.Chris, Chris has done a great job and I'm behind him all the way for

:10:27. > :10:30.what he is doing, he has done brilliant. What would Gary say to

:10:31. > :10:34.the boys as they walk into the tunnel tonight? Just give your best.

:10:35. > :10:39.I would love to see the lads after the game if I can, like, you know,

:10:40. > :10:42.have a wee word with them. I think the lads would probably like to see

:10:43. > :10:49.you after the game. Hopefully, yeah. What would you say to them? Well

:10:50. > :10:52.durpks I hope scla LAUGHTER

:10:53. > :10:54.-- well done, I hope! LAUGHTER

:10:55. > :10:59.I hope he is able to get in the dressing room and say well done and

:11:00. > :11:05.congratulate Wales after victory against Portugal in the semifinals

:11:06. > :11:11.of the European Championships. Wouldn't it be amazing.

:11:12. > :11:15.It is fair to say that you are shocked by the jail sentence given

:11:16. > :11:20.to Oscar Pistorious this morning by a judge at a court in Pretoria. Six

:11:21. > :11:24.years he has been jailed for the murder of his girlfriend, Reeva

:11:25. > :11:30.Steenkamp. Ben on Twitter says, "Just six years for murder? It

:11:31. > :11:35.should be 25 plus. The whole case is disgrace." Maria tweets this, "Six

:11:36. > :11:41.years? That is wrong. A fallen hero, a broken man. Well, Reeva Steenkamp

:11:42. > :11:46.is no longer here. It is injustice." And Jan on Twitter says, "The judge

:11:47. > :11:49.obviously liked Oscar Pistorious. The first sentence was inadequate.

:11:50. > :11:53.This not much better." More reaction from South Africa to

:11:54. > :12:02.come in the next hour of the programme.

:12:03. > :12:10.The familiaries of those who died in the Iraq conflict are hoping to get

:12:11. > :12:13.some answers. In the next half an hour, we will be talking to the

:12:14. > :12:16.father of one of the soldiers who died. We will be talking to people

:12:17. > :12:20.from the intelligence and military communities about the lessons that

:12:21. > :12:22.need to be learned. Jim Reed takes us through the story of Britain's

:12:23. > :12:37.involvement in the Iraq war. 1998 and 3,000 civilians were

:12:38. > :12:41.killed. The bodies which litter this town were those of people who ran

:12:42. > :12:45.out of their houses to escape the gas. Two years later, and then

:12:46. > :12:48.president of Iraq, Saddam Hussein launched a surprise invasion of

:12:49. > :12:53.Kuwait. A huge military campaign led by the

:12:54. > :12:57.US forced him to back down. After the ceasefire, there were chick

:12:58. > :13:01.sanctions and UN inspectors appointed to oversee the destruction

:13:02. > :13:07.of chemical weapons. But Saddam Hussein didn't play along and those

:13:08. > :13:12.inspectors soon left the country. Then there was 9/11, within days

:13:13. > :13:21.George W Bush had told his generals to plan for a possible war in Iraq.

:13:22. > :13:25.States like these and their terrorist allies constitute an Axis

:13:26. > :13:29.of Evil. White House tried to connect Iraq to the 9/11 attacks,

:13:30. > :13:33.but the links later proved false. Bush hosted Prime Minister Tony

:13:34. > :13:38.Blair in Texas. Blair's critics say it was at that point he secretly

:13:39. > :13:42.agreed to go to war, he dethighs that. President Bush went before the

:13:43. > :13:44.UN to make his case for disarming Iraq by force. The British

:13:45. > :13:47.Government published its own dossier, saying that Iraq had

:13:48. > :13:53.weapons of mass destruction that could be ready in 45 minutes. The

:13:54. > :14:00.intelligence picture they paint is one accumulated over the last four

:14:01. > :14:04.years, it is extensive, detailed and authoritative. The Government later

:14:05. > :14:08.admitted that intelligence was faulty and the 45 minute claim was

:14:09. > :14:11.wrong. By November, weapons inspectors were allowed back, but

:14:12. > :14:16.Saddam Hussein was thought to be stalling. After one last summit, an

:14:17. > :14:22.ultimatum was given. Saddam Hussein and his sons must leave Iraq within

:14:23. > :14:28.48 hours. Their refusal to do so will result in military conflict.

:14:29. > :14:36.The conflict was over quickly or so it seemed. Then came the aftermath.

:14:37. > :14:40.It started with looting, it quickly became an organised insurgency.

:14:41. > :14:44.Saddam Hussein was captured and executed, but that didn't stop the

:14:45. > :14:49.violence. Pictures emerged showing the abuse

:14:50. > :14:52.of Iraqi prisoners by American troops. Our country had an

:14:53. > :14:58.obligation to treat them right, we didn't and that was wrong. Violence

:14:59. > :15:02.between Shia and Sunni Muslims intensified. The murder rate in

:15:03. > :15:07.Baghdad tripled. The US solution was the surge, an extra 20,000 troops,

:15:08. > :15:16.the violence did appear to ease, the number of bombings fell.

:15:17. > :15:21.In April 2009 the UK ended combat operations. 179 British troops had

:15:22. > :15:27.lost their lives. The US withdrew two years later. Iraq is not a

:15:28. > :15:28.perfect place, but we're leaving behind a sovereign, stable and self

:15:29. > :15:44.reliant Iraq. Successive Iraqi governments have

:15:45. > :15:49.struggled to maintain order. So-called Islamic State has taken

:15:50. > :15:53.control of swathes of the country including the second city, Mosul. As

:15:54. > :15:56.of today attacks continue across Iraq.

:15:57. > :16:07.Let's talk now to Tim Collins a retired army officer who served

:16:08. > :16:15.who was Director of United Nations Institute

:16:16. > :16:16.for Disarmament Research during the lead up to

:16:17. > :16:26.The last line of your speech which I was looking at again this morning

:16:27. > :16:30.let's said bring everyone home and leave Iraq a better place for us

:16:31. > :16:36.having been there, did that come to pass? It certainly did not. It will

:16:37. > :16:40.be interesting to see to what extent the Chilcot report focuses on the

:16:41. > :16:44.historical change this has brought to the region. It has changed the

:16:45. > :16:57.nature of Iraq, the wars continue to this day, and secondly we handed

:16:58. > :17:02.this to digital initiative through unintended consequences to the

:17:03. > :17:11.Iranians. To actually mount the invasion itself we deluded the

:17:12. > :17:16.Afghan theatre of operations of troops who were on the cusp of

:17:17. > :17:20.totally defeating the Taliban. We handed them an initiative which they

:17:21. > :17:25.seized and has brought us to the situation we have in Afghanistan. I

:17:26. > :17:31.don't know if Chilcot will address those issues but those of the things

:17:32. > :17:36.history will remember. What planet are you given? I was not aware of

:17:37. > :17:38.any particular plan posted of eating the Iraqi army, one rather us and

:17:39. > :18:10.was a we were led to believe we would be

:18:11. > :18:17.facing an army battalion but we realised soon we were in deep

:18:18. > :18:23.uncertainty. Did any sort of strategy ever come at the time you

:18:24. > :18:27.deployed? There was a confusion and clear strategy which we became

:18:28. > :18:31.quickly aware of from the Iraqis themselves so I surrounded myself

:18:32. > :18:35.with Iraqi advisers. We had people coming from the division to come and

:18:36. > :18:38.listen to what they had to say, some of which they enacted and some of

:18:39. > :18:45.which they didn't but the Iraqis had a plan of what should happen and we,

:18:46. > :18:55.the West, totally ignored it. And ignored it and shouldn't have done?

:18:56. > :19:03.We should not have. It was clear and focused that the Iraqi military

:19:04. > :19:07.leadership, saying we will need you as a respected institution in the

:19:08. > :19:10.country to help us run this country when Saddam Hussein falls. We would

:19:11. > :19:15.like you to topple Saddam Hussein. But even if you don't, if anything

:19:16. > :19:20.happens to Saddam Hussein, we all work with you and through you, the

:19:21. > :19:27.Iraqi military. Yet when we arrived somebody took the decision to

:19:28. > :19:33.disband the Iraqi army. There was clearly no clear idea because

:19:34. > :19:36.initially a retired general was skipped off golf course somewhere in

:19:37. > :19:41.Florida and sent out there and didn't last long and he was replaced

:19:42. > :19:47.by Paul Bremer who surrounded himself with experts as they would

:19:48. > :19:53.say and amongst themselves whatever they got up to, the war they

:19:54. > :19:59.initiated is going on to this day. At the time of the invasion you are

:20:00. > :20:02.working for the UN, the director for the Institute of disarmament

:20:03. > :20:06.research. In the lead up to it what did the UN says was happening in

:20:07. > :20:12.Iraq? The UN was focused on the issue of weapons of mass

:20:13. > :20:18.destruction. Since 1991 the UN had had inspectors in until 1998. Almost

:20:19. > :20:22.everything ever found was dismantled by the UN. The UN was very well

:20:23. > :20:29.aware there was no more nuclear weapons, or any nuclear weapons

:20:30. > :20:33.programme, and the International Atomic Energy Agency had supervised

:20:34. > :20:37.the destruction of everything. Chemical weapons, almost everything

:20:38. > :20:41.was gone, the UN was clear about what was left, very little and

:20:42. > :20:46.certainly no imminent threat. Biological weapons were the big

:20:47. > :20:50.uncertainty. From 1998-2002 there were no inspections because of the

:20:51. > :20:55.impasse between the UN and Saddam Hussein's government. At the end of

:20:56. > :21:03.2002 after four years of analysis, for analysis of what they understood

:21:04. > :21:08.and did not, they went to all the places the biological weapons could

:21:09. > :21:12.have been. They never found any documents showing that biological

:21:13. > :21:17.weapons had been destroyed, the Iraqi expert said it had. It turns

:21:18. > :21:23.out probably that it had and those documents are still missing but they

:21:24. > :21:26.may well show up. I think what was clear was that the UN inspectors

:21:27. > :21:30.found long-range missiles which should not have been there which

:21:31. > :21:34.gave us a lot of confidence in their abilities, to look into places and

:21:35. > :21:38.find things nobody knew were there. So the fact they didn't find

:21:39. > :21:41.anything I think, and we all felt I think at the time that that should

:21:42. > :21:48.have weighed heavily in the intelligence assessments. But

:21:49. > :21:52.actually what people drew from that was that the inspectors hadn't find

:21:53. > :22:00.them get or had not been looking hard enough. Exactly, if you talk to

:22:01. > :22:04.Hans Blix or Mohammed El Baradi, they had gone in there with their

:22:05. > :22:08.eyes open trying to find what they could, they had a good grasp of

:22:09. > :22:14.everything and they could not find it. Hans Blix said I am really

:22:15. > :22:20.beginning to think that these things are not there. It was a fascinating

:22:21. > :22:25.time and such a pity that we didn't give the UN inspectors who were very

:22:26. > :22:32.good that extra time to really be certain because the uncertainty is

:22:33. > :22:36.what drove the misrepresentation of the facts. Thank you both very much

:22:37. > :22:39.and thank you for your patience this morning.

:22:40. > :22:41.179 British military personnel lost their lives in Iraq -

:22:42. > :22:43.and for years their families have searched for answers

:22:44. > :22:46.Many of those families are at the moment locked

:22:47. > :22:49.in a briefing room where they've been given access to the report

:22:50. > :22:53.We're going to speak now to Bill Stewardson,

:22:54. > :23:00.whose son Alex Green was killed in Iraq in 2008.

:23:01. > :23:09.Thank you very much for talking to us today. You are not in London for

:23:10. > :23:13.the release of this report, tell our audience why? Nobody asked me to

:23:14. > :23:20.come down, nobody invited me and I can just get on a train and appear

:23:21. > :23:24.can I? How do you feel about that? Quite annoyed to be honest. I don't

:23:25. > :23:28.think it would have pushed the boundaries to include me that you

:23:29. > :23:35.would have to ask other people about that. Can you tell our audience what

:23:36. > :23:38.happened to your son in 2008? Absolutely, he was escorting a

:23:39. > :23:43.convoy and he took a bullet under his armpits I believe and because he

:23:44. > :23:49.was wearing his armour it ricocheted around inside, didn't miss much and

:23:50. > :23:56.he never survived. Can you recall the moment you were told what

:23:57. > :24:01.happened? To be honest, due to logistical problems it was botched,

:24:02. > :24:06.I was told over the telephone which is never a good and I did not see

:24:07. > :24:12.anybody from the military. This was on the Saturday, until the Monday.

:24:13. > :24:16.And when they finally spoke to you face-to-face, tell us about the

:24:17. > :24:21.nature of the conversation if you don't mind? That's a difficult one,

:24:22. > :24:27.I don't actually remember it with sharp clarity but the details were

:24:28. > :24:34.explained and the practical things cropped up and overrode everything.

:24:35. > :24:40.It wasn't very good at all. Tony Blair wrote to you after your son 's

:24:41. > :24:44.death, what did you say? It was a personal message written in his own

:24:45. > :24:48.hand which I don't think it would be fair to go into that but it was a

:24:49. > :24:53.nice message. He spoke about having children himself and he understood

:24:54. > :24:58.the severity of the loss. I would rather not discuss a personal

:24:59. > :25:03.message if that's OK. Absolutely, absolutely. I know you had a

:25:04. > :25:08.conversation with Alex when he joined the Army, a frank

:25:09. > :25:13.conversation I think? Yeah, I will tell you the exact words, I was in

:25:14. > :25:19.my flat and he came to see me one day and said look, dad, I am joining

:25:20. > :25:23.the Army. I actually said to him, Alex, if you want to brush the

:25:24. > :25:28.street, brush the street, if you want to drive a bus driver bus, if

:25:29. > :25:32.you want to play for Everton drive the bus. Which got a laugh. But you

:25:33. > :25:39.are supposed to support your children and I did then and I do

:25:40. > :25:45.now. What is it you want to get from this report today? This whole thing

:25:46. > :25:51.has been blown out of all proportion into some sort of media circus. I am

:25:52. > :25:54.not particularly bothered about getting Tony Blair's head on a

:25:55. > :26:00.stick, people being sent to the Hague which is being bandied about

:26:01. > :26:04.and is quite ridiculous. But if it turns out that some individual has

:26:05. > :26:09.acted illegally they should be taken to task like I would be you would be

:26:10. > :26:13.by your employer is. I don't actually read any more into it than

:26:14. > :26:18.that. I have severe doubts about whatever is going to come out in

:26:19. > :26:23.that 2.6 million Word document. You cannot possibly touch upon highly

:26:24. > :26:28.classified to medication at the time. I see the whole thing as

:26:29. > :26:35.pointless to be honest. What about the people who say war is the last

:26:36. > :26:40.resort which is why we have two and pick the decisions which led up to

:26:41. > :26:45.that? Absolutely, without question. I think the whole thing has boiled

:26:46. > :26:50.down again to whether weapons of mass destruction, yes or no? I don't

:26:51. > :26:54.see that as fair, I think the question to be was it reasonable to

:26:55. > :26:58.make an assumption we were under threat based upon the information

:26:59. > :27:04.which was on the table? Like anybody else would want to go through that

:27:05. > :27:07.process on any decision, suddenly Chuter the same voices sing the same

:27:08. > :27:15.things for their own ends, it's gone. I think the whole thing is

:27:16. > :27:22.quite ridiculous Victoria. So you definitely don't think the British

:27:23. > :27:29.nation was lied to about the WMD, it was an honestly held belief at the

:27:30. > :27:32.time by those in power? Lets get something straight, Tony Blair

:27:33. > :27:38.didn't wake up one Tuesday morning and think let's go and invade Iraq.

:27:39. > :27:42.A long process was gone through, there were many advisers, other

:27:43. > :27:47.nations took part in that decision, the whole of parliament voted for

:27:48. > :27:50.the action to be taken and I am absolutely staggered that this has

:27:51. > :27:58.been hung around the neck of one person. If the report does criticise

:27:59. > :28:04.the decision-making process and in particular Tony Blair, and sure it

:28:05. > :28:10.was made an weak evidence or poor evidence or even false evidence,

:28:11. > :28:16.would your views towards him and others change? Not based on this

:28:17. > :28:25.media circus which is going on. It would not. However. I do hope and

:28:26. > :28:31.trust that in the UK the appropriate procedures would be followed if any

:28:32. > :28:41.reckless decisions are taken. But I still don't believe that. Can I ask

:28:42. > :28:46.you about Alex, what was he like? He was a regular council house kids who

:28:47. > :28:51.grew up in a deprived area, he loved football, he loved getting covered

:28:52. > :28:55.in mud, he loved riding his bike and climbing trees. He didn't like

:28:56. > :29:00.bullying, he was bullied himself at school and he would always go and

:29:01. > :29:03.help someone if they had a problem, like most young people who are brave

:29:04. > :29:09.enough to put on a British modern uniform. We are grateful for your

:29:10. > :29:15.time today, thank you for talking to us about your son. Thank you. Bill

:29:16. > :29:35.Stewardson whose son Alex was killed in Iraq in 2008.

:29:36. > :29:38.I was born and brought up in Baghdad.

:29:39. > :29:42.I have really good, happy memories as a child.

:29:43. > :29:51.My dad was an Army officer and he retired just after the Iraqi

:29:52. > :29:55.invasion to Kuwait in 1990 and my mum was a housewife.

:29:56. > :30:00.Her job was just look after us and look after the house and make

:30:01. > :30:08.sure we do good in school, do our homework, yeah.

:30:09. > :30:10.Growing up in Baghdad, you go to primary school

:30:11. > :30:13.and high school and then you get your equivalent to A level

:30:14. > :30:19.I went to study business administration.

:30:20. > :30:23.My dad was Sunni and my mum was Shia and at the time

:30:24. > :30:26.I generally had no idea, what does it mean to be a Sunni

:30:27. > :30:29.and what does it mean to be a Shia and that my parents were actually

:30:30. > :30:39.1990, when Iraq invaded Kuwait, things changed a lot.

:30:40. > :30:44.I remember you'd see a lot of people begging on the street.

:30:45. > :30:52.Building up to the 2003 war, the invasion, we knew

:30:53. > :30:59.We knew what happened 9/11 but again, the media

:31:00. > :31:03.All that we saw on TV was people protesting.

:31:04. > :31:05.I remember seeing people in London protesting.

:31:06. > :31:16.The night, I still remember the night, when they hit,

:31:17. > :31:28.I remember everyone waking up in a bit of a panic.

:31:29. > :31:30.I genuinely, by then, accepted the worst.

:31:31. > :31:33.And I was really young, but I think we'd been through a lot

:31:34. > :31:36.as a nation and I genuinely went back to sleep.

:31:37. > :31:39.I remember my mum worried and my dad reading some Koran as he was scared,

:31:40. > :31:44.scared for us more than anything, and I just went back to bed.

:31:45. > :31:47.I got told off next day my mum said, do you have any feelings,

:31:48. > :31:50.But I genuinely didn't care at that point.

:31:51. > :31:55.I think my sister was petrified, my mum and dad were really scared

:31:56. > :31:58.because you never know and it was so close

:31:59. > :32:04.So then we put just the basics we could carry in a car and we drove

:32:05. > :32:06.up north to North Iraq where the Kurds were.

:32:07. > :32:09.And it was protected because the Kurds were

:32:10. > :32:17.We stayed there until after the 9th of April and we came back.

:32:18. > :32:19.And then we started seeing Americans on the streets.

:32:20. > :32:22.It was amazing, because we'd never seen foreign people really.

:32:23. > :32:26.I'd never seen a foreign person before I'd seen Americans.

:32:27. > :32:30.They were trooping in the streets, making sure.

:32:31. > :32:32.People were really happy because Saddam is gone

:32:33. > :32:34.but the biggest mistake they've done at the time

:32:35. > :32:37.is when they demolished the Iraqi army, so we had a lot

:32:38. > :32:44.Some people thought it was fine to do whatever they wanted to do.

:32:45. > :32:47.They can steal, they can kill, they can rape, they can harm others,

:32:48. > :32:53.because in Saddam's time, no one would dare to do any of that.

:32:54. > :32:56.You'd go to work or to uni and see people dead on the street

:32:57. > :32:58.and you'd think, probably this person did nothing,

:32:59. > :33:01.just because they disagreed with your background,

:33:02. > :33:04.with your colour, because you looked Sunni or Shia.

:33:05. > :33:11.You'd go to uni and you heard someone had been killed

:33:12. > :33:27.When we had the new government, my first job was, I was employed

:33:28. > :33:30.by the UN in the constitution committee to help the new Iraqi

:33:31. > :33:33.government to write our new Constitution and it was amazing,

:33:34. > :33:41.such a sense of pride, like, this is our Constitution.

:33:42. > :33:44.Genuinely, we were so naive, we thought that was going to make

:33:45. > :33:50.My job was really good and I enjoyed it, but it was very high risk.

:33:51. > :33:53.At the time, when we started getting threats, they had a massive movement

:33:54. > :33:54.against people working with the Iraqi government.

:33:55. > :33:57.I remember having a letter through the door saying,

:33:58. > :34:00."You are betraying Iraq and if you keep doing it,

:34:01. > :34:05.I think the same day, my family decided to move.

:34:06. > :34:08.Well, I worked in the Green Zone in our new elected parliament

:34:09. > :34:16.I think there were seven checkpoints to get into your office

:34:17. > :34:24.They had the dogs out, sniffing around the car, they had a mirror.

:34:25. > :34:27.So they did take a long time, because there's a queue of cars

:34:28. > :34:31.leaving at the same time, so I did get home a bit late,

:34:32. > :34:35.later than usual, and when I got home, our house was attacked

:34:36. > :34:38.and I can see the Iraqi forces, police cars there, and I knew

:34:39. > :34:51.My neighbour, who was a really lovely lady, she knew me.

:34:52. > :34:54.The minute I came out the car, she took me in the house

:34:55. > :35:00.You didn't know who to trust and who not to trust and she just

:35:01. > :35:05.took me in so no-one would know that I arrived safe and I was fine.

:35:06. > :35:09.That night, she packed a bag for me and I was on the first flight out

:35:10. > :35:15.After that day, there was nothing left to stay

:35:16. > :35:24.I had a feeling of, we are going to build it

:35:25. > :35:32.and do good and that day, it was all gone.

:35:33. > :35:34.Well, I genuinely think they tried to help.

:35:35. > :35:39.I don't want to think it was the oil or petroleum.

:35:40. > :35:41.I genuinely want to think that all these troops who came

:35:42. > :35:44.and lost their lives to free us from Saddam,

:35:45. > :35:48.that is where the main subject of their movement was.

:35:49. > :35:56.No, just turned the news on and see how bad Iraq is now.

:35:57. > :36:06.I'd never dare to say Saddam was amazing.

:36:07. > :36:08.Saddam wasn't, but compared to now, Iraq was a million times

:36:09. > :36:13.If I can have my life back, if I can have my life back to one

:36:14. > :36:16.day before everything has happened, I'd go back to Iraq now without

:36:17. > :36:38.Well, let's speak to an Iraqi living in Baghdad and has been living in

:36:39. > :36:42.Iraq throughout the Iraq war. Thank you very much for talking to us.

:36:43. > :36:48.What was it like living there at the start of the war? First, I want to

:36:49. > :36:53.say that I'm really sorry for the story before me, for the lady and I

:36:54. > :37:08.wish her a better life. Living in Iraq during the huge war like 2003

:37:09. > :37:12.was a very terrible time. When this war happened everybody was talking

:37:13. > :37:17.about many scenarios, what will happen, how can we face Americans

:37:18. > :37:24.and Saddam's army and Saddam was a man who can't do anything to get the

:37:25. > :37:29.victory to his personal glory. So people were really feeling bad about

:37:30. > :37:34.many of rumours, about many broadcasting from the radio, many,

:37:35. > :37:40.news can come through ray Radio and other broadcasting waves, we were

:37:41. > :37:47.getting the signal, but in the end, the war happened and we've heard the

:37:48. > :37:52.sounds of attacks and bombs. It was a very horrible, everywhere in

:37:53. > :37:59.Baghdad we were hearing that sound. So attacks, air strikes, bombs

:38:00. > :38:05.falling on our city, so we were just asking God to survive because we did

:38:06. > :38:11.not even leave the house or leave the city out of Baghdad. We said it

:38:12. > :38:15.is OK we'll live in this situation in 1991 during the desert storm or

:38:16. > :38:20.the second Gulf War and we are living it the same today. Finally,

:38:21. > :38:29.even the weather was really bad in that month in the 20 days of the

:38:30. > :38:38.war, there was no electricity and no services, all we found in these days

:38:39. > :38:45.as the, it was a very tragic period from our history and from our ages

:38:46. > :38:53.as teenagers in that period in 2003. How do you feel about the war now?

:38:54. > :39:00.Unfortunately, we were thinking about a better future after Saddam

:39:01. > :39:06.statue fell in the square, but we found ourselves in a worse situation

:39:07. > :39:13.today. Yes, there is a little bit of freedom, using the technology and

:39:14. > :39:18.using the satellite and using the cellphones and internet, but the

:39:19. > :39:24.worst thing and the thing which we cannot stand more is facing the

:39:25. > :39:29.terrorist attacks and you know, Iraq has begun thinking about not all the

:39:30. > :39:34.terrorist attacks and bombs are coming from Isis or the extremists

:39:35. > :39:38.because we are thinking about many people from inside the Government

:39:39. > :39:43.are doing such things against Iraqis. The situation today is very

:39:44. > :39:47.bad. We lost many hundreds of thousands, sometimes Iraqis think

:39:48. > :39:54.about the number of Iraqis who were lost after 2003 are more than what

:39:55. > :40:02.they have lost in all of the period of Saddam's era. About 250,000

:40:03. > :40:08.people were killed during the war and we don't know, one million Iraqi

:40:09. > :40:11.people killed after the 2003 and I think it is not the future we wanted

:40:12. > :40:16.when we wanted Saddam to be gone. Thank you very much for talking to

:40:17. > :40:21.us. Thank you for your time this morning live from Baghdad. Here are

:40:22. > :40:26.your messages. Neil on text says, "Tony Blair should be charged with

:40:27. > :40:29.war crimes and his assets taken as proceeds from crime and used to

:40:30. > :40:33.support the families of those killed." Dawn texted, "Tony Blair is

:40:34. > :40:36.an honest man in my opinion. He was given information from intelligence

:40:37. > :40:40.sources to say there were weapons of mass destruction. He made a rational

:40:41. > :40:45.decision upon that to protect us. How can Tony Blair be at fault? He

:40:46. > :40:54.is not the British intelligence officer. He acted as he thought best

:40:55. > :41:00.to protect this nation." A couple of you commenting on Bill stewards son

:41:01. > :41:03.whose son Alex Green died in Iraq, serving in irlack, he was a British

:41:04. > :41:07.soldier. Graham tweets, "The dad on at Victoria Live is the definition

:41:08. > :41:12.of a plain speaking Yorkshireman, compelling viewing from a man who

:41:13. > :41:15.lost his son in Iraq." Dan says, "Incredible interview with the

:41:16. > :41:16.father of a soldier killed in Iraq. Well said, sir." Thank you for

:41:17. > :41:25.those. Keep them coming in. Part of it is expected to focus

:41:26. > :41:28.on the shortcomings in equipment The Snatch Landrover was used

:41:29. > :41:32.by British forces in Iraq, but it was criticised for not

:41:33. > :41:34.being well-enough protected, leaving James Longman is here

:41:35. > :41:48.with the story. These Snatch Land Rovers were never

:41:49. > :41:54.intended for Iraq, they were designed for Northern Ireland, they

:41:55. > :42:01.weren't protective enough from the kind of attacks in Iraq. A number of

:42:02. > :42:04.British personnel were killed, 27 of the military men and women who died

:42:05. > :42:10.were killed in the Snatch Land Rovers and they were called by the

:42:11. > :42:14.troops who used them mobile coffins. The families of those men and women

:42:15. > :42:19.that were killed in them have been asking questions about why was it

:42:20. > :42:22.they were being used and in 2013 there was a landmark proceeding

:42:23. > :42:29.which allowed three of the families to actually sue the MoD for breach

:42:30. > :42:33.of Human Rights and negligence. That was land marked because up until no

:42:34. > :42:36.one has been able to sue the MoD on these sorts of grounds with regards

:42:37. > :42:40.to the Armed Forces. We have been speaking to the families of and one

:42:41. > :42:47.of those families is that of Private Lee Ellis and he died in February

:42:48. > :42:53.2006 on patrol in Southern Iraq. He was 23. He was from Manchester. He

:42:54. > :42:57.lived in there with his fiancee and their young daughter. I will read an

:42:58. > :43:03.extract from what his Commanding Officer said about him when he died.

:43:04. > :43:07.He said he was bright, enthusiastic and immensely popular, Private Ellis

:43:08. > :43:12.displayed the qualities of a first plas paratrooper. His strength of

:43:13. > :43:18.character and dedication were reflected in his dedication to

:43:19. > :43:22.overcome injury." We spoke to his sister Carla Ellis about what she is

:43:23. > :43:24.hoping from the Chilcot inquiry today.

:43:25. > :43:30.I wanted to know why my brother had died. I wanted to know why he was in

:43:31. > :43:35.a Snatch Land Rover, why he wasn't in a Warrior? Why he was in Iraq? I

:43:36. > :43:40.wanted to know his life was valuable. I wanted people to be

:43:41. > :43:44.honest with me and upfront and ease my grief, you know, because I was

:43:45. > :43:48.grieving and I wanted answers and it shouldn't have taken ten years to

:43:49. > :43:52.get the answers to teal me my brother's life was more valuable

:43:53. > :43:56.than a budget and him being in shoddy equipment. So how long were

:43:57. > :43:59.the vehicles in operation and why did it take so long for anything to

:44:00. > :44:04.be done about them? Well, that goes to the Hart of this issue and that's

:44:05. > :44:07.what families are asking today. In 2005, to give you some idea of how

:44:08. > :44:13.long they were in circulation, in 2005 was the deadliest year for

:44:14. > :44:18.troops using these sorts of vehiclesment 12 of them were blown

:44:19. > :44:23.up. And 19 soldiers killed. Defence chiefs decided to start to roll out

:44:24. > :44:29.other kinds of vehicles and by the end of 2006, there was the masstive,

:44:30. > :44:37.a heavily armoured bus, but that came too late for Lee Ellis and not

:44:38. > :44:41.enough for Lance Corporal Redpath who died in August 2007 whilst on

:44:42. > :44:46.patrol in Basra. I'm going to read you an extract of what his

:44:47. > :44:51.Commanding Officer said about him. He said Lance Corporal Redpath was a

:44:52. > :44:56.well-known character, well-known for his cheeky approach. He was a

:44:57. > :45:01.delight to have working in the balancele group head quarters, not

:45:02. > :45:05.only did he work hard to get inside the head of numerous factionks, but

:45:06. > :45:11.he brighten up the place. He always had a joke to tell." We spoke to his

:45:12. > :45:18.father Colin about what he is hoping. Well, he was on a convoy to

:45:19. > :45:22.Kuwait to pick up supplies. And they were on their way back. They were

:45:23. > :45:28.about 70 miles from Basra, I believe. They were coming to a

:45:29. > :45:35.crossroads with a group of houses. And one of the, because he was in

:45:36. > :45:41.the lead Land Rover, one of the Land Rovers further back, I believe that

:45:42. > :45:44.the guys in the Land Rover actually avoided, are tried to avoid the

:45:45. > :45:49.house because they thought it was suspicious. The next thing a

:45:50. > :45:54.roadside bomb and him and his colleague died. The officer was in

:45:55. > :46:00.there as well, he was injured, but survived. There wasn't much left of

:46:01. > :46:06.the Land Rover I'm afraid and my son died instantly.

:46:07. > :46:13.He was in a Land Rover, not much armour on it. Apparently at his

:46:14. > :46:17.inquest armoured vehicles were requested for that mission but none

:46:18. > :46:23.were available. I always think, it was the lead Land Rover, you'd think

:46:24. > :46:27.it would be really armoured, or an arm for your call but it wasn't to

:46:28. > :46:33.be on this occasion. -- or an armoured vehicle. I am not saying

:46:34. > :46:39.they would still be alive even in an armoured your call but the chances

:46:40. > :46:44.would obviously be greatly improved. -- in an armoured vehicle. And he

:46:45. > :46:49.paid the price. For years politicians and prominent army

:46:50. > :46:54.officers were saying they were not fit for purpose. They had been there

:46:55. > :47:01.a long time in Iraq, six, seven years. And we still didn't have all

:47:02. > :47:06.the proper equipment. I think most of the families in my position just

:47:07. > :47:11.want closure on it. If there were failings on equipment, which, you

:47:12. > :47:24.know, it does look likely because there are examples. We just want

:47:25. > :47:28.closure of it and the MOD to at least perhaps meet us or at least

:47:29. > :47:32.see yeah, there were failings. These are what the failings where and

:47:33. > :47:39.hopefully they will correct it in the future. So it saves lives in the

:47:40. > :47:44.future. My son was in the Army, he had to go where he was posted like

:47:45. > :47:50.thousands before him. First World War, Second World War. He was doing

:47:51. > :47:56.his job. But all I am saying is give our boys and girls the tools to do

:47:57. > :48:02.the job. Don't sell them short. Because all I know is that if I was

:48:03. > :48:08.Prime Minister I would have made dam surely had the best. It is family

:48:09. > :48:13.like these who will be looking for hamsters today from the report to

:48:14. > :48:20.see if they are also able to bring proceedings against the Ministry of

:48:21. > :48:28.Defence. Thank you James. The Chilcot report is published at 11am,

:48:29. > :48:32.the most comprehensive coverage here on BBC news throughout the day.

:48:33. > :48:35.Quite a lot of comments about the sentence given to Oscar Pistorius

:48:36. > :48:39.this morning for murdering his girlfriend, fair to say a lot of you

:48:40. > :48:45.think six years in jail is just not enough. On Twitter one viewer saying

:48:46. > :48:50.the sentence for Oscar Pistorius is disgraceful. Murder is murder and

:48:51. > :48:54.should mean life. It seems as though the judge was taking him into

:48:55. > :48:58.account more than the deceased. And another saying they are so story for

:48:59. > :49:05.the Steenkamp family who have had so many years of torment. -- there are

:49:06. > :49:09.so sorry. Tonight Wales play their biggest football match ever, they

:49:10. > :49:12.meet Portugal in the semifinal of the Euro 2016 championship.

:49:13. > :49:16.Thousands of fans are heading for the game lost tens of thousands will

:49:17. > :49:19.watch it from the fans on in Cardiff. Most eyes will be on the

:49:20. > :49:25.star players, Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo. They are more

:49:26. > :49:27.used to being team-mates than competing against one another. Here

:49:28. > :49:35.is a film to see how they compare. # Memories, like the

:49:36. > :49:48.corners of my mind. # So take a look

:49:49. > :50:12.at what you've done. You're such a romantic hero, the way

:50:13. > :50:26.you dress and look yourself over. It's no wonder you would ponder that

:50:27. > :50:28.preening image of # I don't pop my cork

:50:29. > :51:32.for every man I see. Let's talk to various Welsh fans,

:51:33. > :51:41.Vince, it looks so dark, I can tell her you are, hello. Hello, we are

:51:42. > :51:49.just driving through a tunnel! We have come to you at the perfect

:51:50. > :52:00.moment! We have other fans, where are you? INAUDIBLE

:52:01. > :52:05.Thank you for talking to us. We have another couple of guys who are

:52:06. > :52:16.currently on their way to France with various friends. Not can Wales

:52:17. > :52:25.beat Portugal, will they? I think we will, it will be a tough game. We

:52:26. > :52:29.are on a way from veteran airport to Lyon. We are at the border at the

:52:30. > :52:35.French Alps at the moment. We are all very excited and I think the

:52:36. > :52:38.mood is positive. Absolutely, we are very excited, the adrenaline is

:52:39. > :52:44.pumping. We are all thrilled and excited to be here and to have

:52:45. > :52:49.tickets. It's very exciting and looking forward to getting to Lyon

:52:50. > :52:54.and being part of this great occasion and history of Welsh

:52:55. > :53:01.football. Events, what do you anticipate tonight?

:53:02. > :53:13.We have got a very good team spirit at the moment. Portugal have a lot

:53:14. > :53:17.of experience and I think it will be a tough game but I think we've just

:53:18. > :53:23.got enough at the moment to beat them by a goal, 1-0, 2-1. I'm

:53:24. > :53:30.confident on the result but I am nervous. I'm not surprised. Are you

:53:31. > :53:36.nervous? I am so excited, it's hard to believe. Talking about dear to

:53:37. > :53:40.dream, I think it's time for best to believe. Who would have thought, so

:53:41. > :53:45.many near misses in the past, getting this close, even if we lose

:53:46. > :53:52.tonight they have still succeeded. They can do any wrong in our eyes,

:53:53. > :53:56.this is beyond belief. Chris Coleman has been absolutely magnificent, do

:53:57. > :54:03.you also paid tribute to Gary speed before him, John Toshack before him?

:54:04. > :54:08.Brian Flynn for bringing the youngsters through before him. Fair

:54:09. > :54:15.play to Chris Coleman, had a bad start but he has ridden it out, he's

:54:16. > :54:20.got a great team spirit, I wouldn't even say team spirit, they are a

:54:21. > :54:28.gang of mates. What ambassadors they are, Gareth Bale should run for

:54:29. > :54:34.Prime Minister. Do you fear Ronaldo or do you think, Portugal never

:54:35. > :54:41.really do it as a team do they? They don't. To be honest like Chris

:54:42. > :54:46.Coleman said we have our own Ronaldo in Gareth Bale. I think he has been

:54:47. > :54:52.much more an ambassador to Wales than Ronaldo has. That in itself has

:54:53. > :54:55.filled not only the team but the nation with confidence. I think we

:54:56. > :55:00.can take that confidence into tonight and we should not be afraid

:55:01. > :55:05.of someone like Ronaldo. We've got this far, we have played better than

:55:06. > :55:10.Portugal have so far I think. We have won in 90 minutes, all our

:55:11. > :55:17.games and they haven't won any in 90 minutes. That's true but Portugal

:55:18. > :55:22.have played pretty badly and are still in the semifinal and that must

:55:23. > :55:27.give you pause for thought? It is a concern but having said that I think

:55:28. > :55:30.the team spirit the guys have shown throughout the campaign, the

:55:31. > :55:34.qualifiers, and the past couple of weeks, I think that's what

:55:35. > :55:38.everyone's been most impressed about. The camaraderie, the

:55:39. > :55:46.togetherness, the strap line together stronger could not be more

:55:47. > :55:50.true. Yes it's a concern, they are star player has not performed to his

:55:51. > :55:54.ability in the tournament but we do have our own star player in Gareth

:55:55. > :55:59.Bale. We all know this Welsh team isn't just about him, it's about all

:56:00. > :56:04.the team and I think that will get us over the line. All about the team

:56:05. > :56:12.and the fans. The fence, what would it mean for the team and to Wales to

:56:13. > :56:17.get to the final? It would mean the world, we have more than herself on

:56:18. > :56:21.the map at the moment but to win a final in our first final in 50

:56:22. > :56:26.years, especially in the modern game. When they got to the World Cup

:56:27. > :56:31.in 1958 it was an amateur game. Football is not only universal and

:56:32. > :56:35.global INAUDIBLE It will boost the economy of Wales

:56:36. > :56:37.and are standing on the map throughout the whole world, the

:56:38. > :56:44.whole world watches football whereas years ago it didn't. For a nation of

:56:45. > :56:47.our size might a bit like the story of Leicester City, it will give

:56:48. > :56:53.every small nation hope that they could also do it as well. Like

:56:54. > :57:02.England for example! Let me ask you, what would it mean if Wales got to

:57:03. > :57:06.the final? It it's put us on the map. The fans have been great,

:57:07. > :57:11.everyone seems to love the Welsh fans, there has been no trouble,

:57:12. > :57:16.great singing. We know how we behave at rugby matches but I went to the

:57:17. > :57:23.qualifying matches and I have never been in an atmosphere like that

:57:24. > :57:29.before. Let's say you beat Portugal and are in the final and it's

:57:30. > :57:34.against France or Germany, would you think anything could happen? That's

:57:35. > :57:39.the thing, we are in dreamland at the moment. To start with we were

:57:40. > :57:44.just happy to be in France and now we've come this far I think anything

:57:45. > :57:50.could happen. It's cliche but it could ring true. If we do get to the

:57:51. > :57:54.final it would be a huge occasion for all of the Welsh all around the

:57:55. > :57:58.world. I am just proud of the boys and how they have conducted

:57:59. > :58:02.themselves. The fans have been incredible, this is my first trip to

:58:03. > :58:09.France, or the other boys have been before during this campaign. Had a

:58:10. > :58:14.great time, made amazing friends and great memories. It would be just, an

:58:15. > :58:21.incredible achievement if we got to the final and dear I see it if we

:58:22. > :58:26.won it would be even better. Thank you so much, enjoy, enjoy, enjoy all

:58:27. > :58:30.of you. Thank you for coming on the programme. That's it for today, Sir

:58:31. > :58:34.John Chilcot is about to release his report into the Iraq war and then

:58:35. > :58:36.brown is at the Queen Elizabeth conference Centre in London. -- Ben

:58:37. > :58:44.brown. Good morning from Westminster, you

:58:45. > :58:45.join