:00:00. > :00:10.The legacy of the war in Iraq dominates the news this evening.
:00:11. > :00:13.Thousands of soldiers from Northern Ireland
:00:14. > :00:16.served in the country, and one of their officers says
:00:17. > :00:18.the families of those killed there deserve an apology.
:00:19. > :00:22.Today the inquiry into the war was heavily critical of the decision
:00:23. > :00:25.by then Prime Minister Tony Blair to go to war.
:00:26. > :00:27.Mervyn Jess, who reported from Iraq at the time,
:00:28. > :00:30.has been hearing the reaction of some of those who took
:00:31. > :00:47.Short on, that is how the military commanders describe their
:00:48. > :00:52.preferences in Iraq, which began in Baghdad. Today, Sir John Chilcot
:00:53. > :00:54.outlined his findings after a seven year inquiry into the war, a war
:00:55. > :01:02.that claimed hundreds of British lives and tens of thousands of Iraqi
:01:03. > :01:07.lives. The UK choose to join the war in Iraq before the peaceful options
:01:08. > :01:20.for design and had been explored. Military action at that time was not
:01:21. > :01:25.a resort. Doug Beattie served in Iraq. I'm not surprised by anything.
:01:26. > :01:32.I think we all knew that the decision to go to war was well
:01:33. > :01:37.before they got permission to do so. I do think the Government need to
:01:38. > :01:40.apologise to the family of the people who fought in Iraq and to the
:01:41. > :01:48.Iraqi people who have suffered so badly because of this really bad
:01:49. > :01:54.decision to go to war. This man was also an officer in the Royal Navy,
:01:55. > :01:59.serving in the Gulf. It is very clear that is a damning indictment
:02:00. > :02:04.of Tony Blair and all that he did. We did believe that Saddam Hussein
:02:05. > :02:07.had weapons of mass structured and now we see from the evidence that
:02:08. > :02:12.there wasn't any. As we begin to find out more and more, this wasn't
:02:13. > :02:17.an issue of national security for the United Kingdom. The report
:02:18. > :02:21.through this response from the former Prime Minister. I acknowledge
:02:22. > :02:26.all the problems that came with that decision, the mistakes and accept
:02:27. > :02:32.responsibility for them. What I cannot and will not do is say I
:02:33. > :02:37.believe we took the wrong decision. I believe I made the right decision
:02:38. > :02:43.and that the world is better and safer as a result of it. In 2003, I
:02:44. > :02:47.reported from Iraq for BBC Newsline. Remnants of the old regime still
:02:48. > :02:54.litter the countryside, but the emphasis now is very much about
:02:55. > :02:59.empowering the local population and rebuilding Iraq. We believe and we
:03:00. > :03:05.dream that our country will be better. A former Sergeant Major in
:03:06. > :03:10.the Royal Irish Regiment reflected on the impact made well in Iraq. You
:03:11. > :03:17.assume the political matters above are creating the right reasons for
:03:18. > :03:21.going to such places, so that volatile region, did we make it
:03:22. > :03:26.better at the time when I was there? I like to think we did. Do I think
:03:27. > :03:30.that we left it in a better place? I'm not so sure. 13 years after it
:03:31. > :03:34.ended, it is a war that is still making headlines.
:03:35. > :03:36.Earlier I spoke to Colonel Tim Collins, who is best known
:03:37. > :03:39.for a rousing speech he gave to the men of the First battalion,
:03:40. > :03:43.the Royal Irish Regiment before the invasion.
:03:44. > :03:52.The first thing is of course it was given to my men and my men alone and
:03:53. > :03:57.the world eavesdropped on it. It was therefore only via consumption.
:03:58. > :04:02.Secondly, we were going with what we believed was the case at the time.
:04:03. > :04:06.If you know then what you know now, would you have them differently,
:04:07. > :04:14.Dundee speech differently or even taking part? Some folks who probably
:04:15. > :04:23.don't get out an awful lot think I was speaking to the world -- some
:04:24. > :04:28.people. Do you think that men and women were sent to their death
:04:29. > :04:31.unnecessarily? Not unnecessarily. The removal of Saddam Hussein's
:04:32. > :04:36.regime was nothing but a good thing. But I do think the desperation of
:04:37. > :04:40.those surrounding the Blair Government to try and bridge a the
:04:41. > :04:47.British Government as some kind of softly softly peacekeeping
:04:48. > :04:54.operation, that cost lives and that is something that is closer
:04:55. > :04:58.examination. Would you have done anything differently? No, I think we
:04:59. > :05:04.were entirely successful. We took more territory than any other
:05:05. > :05:06.British unit, didn't lose any soldiers and I think we were very
:05:07. > :05:07.successful. The family of a Dublin soldier,
:05:08. > :05:10.who was shot dead while serving in British Army in Iraq,
:05:11. > :05:13.say they are still very angry and very sad about what happened
:05:14. > :05:15.to their loved one. Lance Corporal Ian Malone,
:05:16. > :05:17.from Ballyfermot, was shot in the head by a sniper in April
:05:18. > :05:20.2003 in Basra. His funeral was the first
:05:21. > :05:24.with a uniformed British military Our Dublin correspondent
:05:25. > :05:39.Shane Harrison's been We are never going to get closure.
:05:40. > :05:46.It was wrong. He went out there to do a job and he wasn't able to do
:05:47. > :05:50.that job. He was never going to be capable of doing that job. The boy
:05:51. > :05:54.said came home with lucky that they got home. And we are still very
:05:55. > :06:00.angry and we are still very sad that he's not here today to share our
:06:01. > :06:07.lives. Given that Ian lost his life in Iraq, was it worth it, when you
:06:08. > :06:10.look at the middle east now, the rise of IS, the fact that even in
:06:11. > :06:16.the last few days there have been massive casualties in Baghdad?
:06:17. > :06:19.Definitely not. They have made the country worse. I believe they made
:06:20. > :06:25.the country worse than it was before the army went in. What do you think
:06:26. > :06:29.of the Chilcot Report now? It's not something new to us, we knew all
:06:30. > :06:34.along that this is what had happened. They were going to war no
:06:35. > :06:38.matter what. They were very ill prepared to do that, but to see it
:06:39. > :06:46.in black and white and deceivers has recognised that that is what was
:06:47. > :06:52.done has made us as a family make us feel that we were right. We were
:06:53. > :06:57.very angry at the time that our brother was killed and a lot of
:06:58. > :06:58.other people, and these thousands of civilians are killed in Iraq, there
:06:59. > :06:59.was no need of it. The leader of the Green Party,
:07:00. > :07:02.Steven Agnew, was one of tens of thousands of people
:07:03. > :07:04.here who marched in opposition He said Tony Blair should be held
:07:05. > :07:17.responsible for the violence I certainly feel vindicated but I
:07:18. > :07:20.feel incredibly frustrated that seven years later, after the report
:07:21. > :07:24.was published 13 years after the war, that we still don't have a
:07:25. > :07:29.determination in whether or not the war was legal. It is still my
:07:30. > :07:34.contention that it was an illegal war and as the report does conform
:07:35. > :07:35.to the microphone, we went to war without exhausting other options.
:07:36. > :07:38.Colin Wallace, the former Army press officer who worked
:07:39. > :07:40.in Northern Ireland in the 1970s, has refused to give
:07:41. > :07:42.evidence to the Historical Institutional Abuse inquiry.
:07:43. > :07:45.It heard today that in a statement made to police in 2004,
:07:46. > :07:50.he contradicted allegations he had previously made about a cover-up
:07:51. > :07:56.at Kincora Boys home in East Belfast and the still unsolved murder
:07:57. > :08:01.in 1973 of the Belfast schoolboy, Brian McDermott.
:08:02. > :08:05.A 38-year-old man has died following a crash in County Armagh.
:08:06. > :08:07.The collision happened on the Red Lion Road
:08:08. > :08:10.in Kilmore shortly after one o'clock this morning.
:08:11. > :08:17.The Infrastructure Minister Chris Hazzard has announced that no more
:08:18. > :08:19.water meters will be installed in new homes.
:08:20. > :08:23.He described the practice as a waste of public money.
:08:24. > :08:26.The meters have been placed in newly built houses since 2007,
:08:27. > :08:30.although they have never been used as domestic properties don't pay
:08:31. > :08:35.The Assembly will have to approve the decision to no longer
:08:36. > :08:41.There were some sharp exchanges at Stormont today as MLAs
:08:42. > :08:43.on the Education Committee questioned officials
:08:44. > :08:49.The authority has been criticised for planning to reduce the hours
:08:50. > :08:51.some disabled children will spend in special school nurseries
:08:52. > :08:58.I know that we're going to be hearing from parents
:08:59. > :09:05.And it is going to revert to much of what you have said.
:09:06. > :09:07.I suppose one of the fundamental questions that I would ask
:09:08. > :09:10.is, from your perspective why has this whole process been such
:09:11. > :09:20.First of all, I don't accept that characterisation.
:09:21. > :09:26.Secondly, we do need to remind all of us that virtually everybody who
:09:27. > :09:32.works in support of children with special needs in Northern Ireland is
:09:33. > :09:41.an employee of the Education Authority. So this is not us against
:09:42. > :09:42.them, this is us, the employees, the employees of the Education
:09:43. > :09:42.Authority. Yachts in the Clipper Round
:09:43. > :09:48.the World boat race have been But there were poor conditions
:09:49. > :09:52.for the Derry Londonderry yacht durra as our North-West reporter,
:09:53. > :09:54.Keiron Tourish reports. It was an emotional
:09:55. > :09:55.homecoming for the first They sailed up the Loch
:09:56. > :09:58.Foyle this afternoon. LMax was the first boat to finish
:09:59. > :10:02.the local leg of the race about five miles ahead
:10:03. > :10:09.of the Derry Londonderry tour boat. Its crew was just delighted to be
:10:10. > :10:12.back home after the 17-day So many boats and hundreds
:10:13. > :10:19.of people lining the banks. I can't wait to see the city
:10:20. > :10:22.itself when we get there. Crews in 12 yachts
:10:23. > :10:31.sailing 40,000 miles Facing treacherous conditions
:10:32. > :10:33.and stunning backdrops It draws people from all walks
:10:34. > :10:39.of life, including students, solicitors and accountants
:10:40. > :10:45.from all 44 different nationalities. The council spent a considerable
:10:46. > :10:47.amount on the race For the last two Clipper races,
:10:48. > :10:59.we've invested ?1.2 million and that's given us two boats
:11:00. > :11:01.for those two years, an international profile around
:11:02. > :11:04.the world, but also two major We expect a huge return for that
:11:05. > :11:10.and 125,000 visitors came last year and we expect somewhere
:11:11. > :11:19.in that ballpark again. It adds ?6 million
:11:20. > :11:21.to the local economy. There will be plenty of activity
:11:22. > :11:24.along the quay in the next week or so as the city plays host to this
:11:25. > :11:27.major maritime festival. It will include food and music
:11:28. > :11:29.from across the globe. It looks like we might finally get
:11:30. > :11:34.a taste of summer tomorrow. With the details,
:11:35. > :11:49.here's Geoff Maskell. A bit of a grey and damp day today.
:11:50. > :11:54.But the last of the shower should push out to the east tonight.
:11:55. > :11:58.Despite there's clear spells, we have got enough breeze to keep the
:11:59. > :12:02.temperature is largely in double figures, 910 degrees overnight. The
:12:03. > :12:06.next few days will be very nice indeed, dry and bright and feeling a
:12:07. > :12:09.bit warmer. Tomorrow morning, we will be waking up to some beautiful
:12:10. > :12:15.blue skies and plenty of sunny weather as we go through Thursday. A
:12:16. > :12:20.very nice for Northern Ireland, some zones of weather. A band of cloud
:12:21. > :12:24.and some showers across the central belt and to the north of that we are
:12:25. > :12:31.into the clearer and fresher air. There will be a few showers around
:12:32. > :12:35.but they will pass through Northern Ireland, a decent run of things the
:12:36. > :12:39.top temperatures of 19 or 20 degrees. We might see a bit of rain
:12:40. > :12:47.to the north-west. Friday is another good day, largely drive. Plenty of
:12:48. > :12:50.bright and sunny spells. By the evening though, we start to see the
:12:51. > :12:53.next weather system arriving and that will bring rain and signal a
:12:54. > :12:57.change. That changes all being driven by this area of low pressure,
:12:58. > :13:02.which is heading towards us for the weekend. Thursday and Friday will be
:13:03. > :13:07.rather pleasant, Saturday and Sunday I'm afraid I going to be wet and
:13:08. > :13:11.windy. It's a pretty miserable outlook for the weekend. Looking
:13:12. > :13:12.ahead over the next four days, it is a day of two halves.
:13:13. > :13:14.Our next BBC Newsline is at 6:25 tomorrow morning
:13:15. > :13:19.You can also keep updated with News Online.