:00:10. > :00:12.Reporting from Washington, I'm Laura Trevelyan.
:00:13. > :00:14.The headlines: A UK inquiry delivers its conclusion on Britain's
:00:15. > :00:20.It found military action was based on flawed intelligence
:00:21. > :00:29.and there was no imminent threat from Saddam Hussein.
:00:30. > :00:36.It is and I count of an intervention which went badly wrong, with
:00:37. > :00:37.consequences to this day. -- and I count.
:00:38. > :00:40.lies, but accepts full responsibility for
:00:41. > :00:44.For all of this, I express more sorrow, regret, and apology than
:00:45. > :00:56.Also coming up: President Obama says he'll keep more than 8,000 troops
:00:57. > :01:03.And, sentenced to six years in a South African prison.
:01:04. > :01:05.After a marathon trial, Oscar Pistorius learns his fate
:01:06. > :01:21.for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
:01:22. > :01:24.We start in Britain, where a long awaited report
:01:25. > :01:27.on the country's role in the Iraq war has laid out
:01:28. > :01:30.The investigation, led by Sir John Chilcot,
:01:31. > :01:32.found the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein posed no "imminent
:01:33. > :01:37.threat" and the military action against him was not a last resort.
:01:38. > :01:41.The report says Britain went to war based on "flawed intelligence".
:01:42. > :01:46.And this is what prime minister Tony Blair told George Bush
:01:47. > :01:48.in a letter eight months before the invasion:
:01:49. > :01:57.A spokesman for president George W Bush told the BBC
:01:58. > :01:59.he believes the world is a better place
:02:00. > :02:03.And he went on to praise the UK under the leadership of Tony Blair
:02:04. > :02:07.But the Chilcot report says the intervention went badly wrong,
:02:08. > :02:18.Nicholas Witchell has been looking at it in more detail.
:02:19. > :02:20.For month after month, some of the most senior
:02:21. > :02:22.figures in the land, ministers, civil servants, military
:02:23. > :02:24.leaders and intelligence chiefs, came to give evidence.
:02:25. > :02:25.From their testimony and many thousands of documents,
:02:26. > :02:27.Sir John Chilcot has distilled his conclusions.
:02:28. > :02:31.It is on the use of intelligence that he offers some of his most
:02:32. > :02:38.It is now clear that policy on Iraq was made on the basis of flawed
:02:39. > :02:45.They were not challenged, and they should have been.
:02:46. > :02:48.In the House of Commons on the 24th of September 2002, Mr Blair
:02:49. > :02:51.talked up the credibility of the intelligence
:02:52. > :02:57.It is extensive, detailed, and authoritative.
:02:58. > :03:00.According to Mr Blair, Saddam Hussein could activate his
:03:01. > :03:04.chemical and biological weapons within 45 minutes.
:03:05. > :03:10.The judgments about Iraq's capabilities in a statement
:03:11. > :03:13.and in the dossier published the same day were presented
:03:14. > :03:19.with a certainty that was not justifiable.
:03:20. > :03:22.Not only was intelligence flawed, so too with the discussions
:03:23. > :03:29.The Attorney General at the time was Lord Peter Goldsmith,
:03:30. > :03:32.but it is clear from the report that time and again, the Cabinet
:03:33. > :03:36.was denied a chance to hear his detailed arguments.
:03:37. > :03:41.One such an occasion was a matter of weeks before the invasion began.
:03:42. > :03:45.And so to the chaos of postinvasion planning and another
:03:46. > :03:51.According to the report, Mr Blair's government
:03:52. > :03:53.was warned explicitly of the risk that an invasion
:03:54. > :03:59.would destabilise Iraq and lead to the growth of Al-Qaeda.
:04:00. > :04:01.And as British forces faced the growing Iraqi insurrection,
:04:02. > :04:05.the government failed to equip them properly.
:04:06. > :04:08.We have found that the Ministry of Defence was slow in responding
:04:09. > :04:13.to the threat from improvised explosive devices and that delays
:04:14. > :04:17.in providing adequate medium weight protective patrol vehicles should
:04:18. > :04:26.Britain's invasion of Iraq has been minutely scrutinised.
:04:27. > :04:29.Sir John Chilcot has found that it was an unwarranted invasion,
:04:30. > :04:32.based on flawed intelligence, with insufficient discussion
:04:33. > :04:38.It was an intervention which he said had caused anguish and suffering
:04:39. > :04:47.The evidence is there for all to see, it is an account
:04:48. > :04:49.of an intervention which went badly wrong.
:04:50. > :05:00.Reacting to the Chilcot report, former prime minister Tony Blair
:05:01. > :05:04.took full responsibility for the mistakes in planning
:05:05. > :05:08.But he asked the British public to accept that he had
:05:09. > :05:14.done what he thought was right at the time.
:05:15. > :05:23.The intelligence assessments made at the time of going to war turned out
:05:24. > :05:30.to be wrong. The aftermath turned out to be more hostile, protracted
:05:31. > :05:37.and bloody than ever we imagined. The coalition plan for one set of
:05:38. > :05:41.ground facts and encountered another, and a nation whose people
:05:42. > :05:48.we wanted to set free and secure from the evil of Saddam, became
:05:49. > :06:01.instead victim to sectarian terrorism.
:06:02. > :06:09.For all of this, I express more sorrow, regret and apology than you
:06:10. > :06:10.may have no law can believe. -- and you may ever know.
:06:11. > :06:13.The violence which erupted in Iraq in 2003 has continued to this day,
:06:14. > :06:16.and the head of the UK inquiry underlined the suffering
:06:17. > :06:18.of the Iraqi people, including a million forced
:06:19. > :06:21.As our Middle East Editor Jeremy Bowen reports from Baghdad,
:06:22. > :06:28.the war sent shockwaves across the entire region.
:06:29. > :06:31.The people of Baghdad and the rest of Iraq are still living and dying
:06:32. > :06:38.with the consequences of the 2003 invasion.
:06:39. > :06:42.Security is being beefed up yet again after the bomb that killed
:06:43. > :06:51.But the fear of a sudden random death is never far away.
:06:52. > :06:55.When the US forces reached Baghdad in April 2003, pictures of them
:06:56. > :06:58.helping Iraqis topple a statue of Saddam Hussein went
:06:59. > :07:11.Hadi Al Jabari started knocking lumps out of the Prince to celebrate
:07:12. > :07:14.Hadi Al Jabari started knocking lumps out of the plinth to celebrate
:07:15. > :07:18.Now like many Iraqis, he's nostalgic for the brutal
:07:19. > :07:21.TRANSLATION: Saddam has gone and we now have 1,000 Saddams.
:07:22. > :07:24.If Tony Blair was here this morning, what would you say to him?
:07:25. > :07:26.TRANSLATION: I would say to him, you are a criminal.
:07:27. > :07:36.Less than an hour's drive from Baghdad, these are Iraqi Shia
:07:37. > :07:37.militiamen, trained and equipped by Iran,
:07:38. > :07:48.Chilcot says the British Government ignored a warning that removing
:07:49. > :07:55.Saddam would offer Iran an opening in Iraq.
:07:56. > :07:59.Captured IS positions seemed to have been prepared by trained soldiers,
:08:00. > :08:07.IS commanders include former Iraqi officers who joined
:08:08. > :08:10.the jihadists when the US and Britain dissolved the Iraqi army.
:08:11. > :08:13.Not all of the chaos, violence and war in the Middle East
:08:14. > :08:16.at the moment can be traced back to the invasion of Iraq in 2003,
:08:17. > :08:23.It was like throwing a great big rock into a pond,
:08:24. > :08:28.it sent out shock waves, geopolitical, religious,
:08:29. > :08:36.And 13 years later, they're still crashing around the region.
:08:37. > :08:43.Warnings about internal strife, regional instability and the rise
:08:44. > :08:46.of jihadists were also ignored by Number Ten, says Chilcot.
:08:47. > :08:54.Iraq's sectarian violence spread to Syria, Yemen, and elsewhere.
:08:55. > :08:59.As leaders used and abused Shia Sunni fears to fight for power.
:09:00. > :09:08.Jihadists were on the attack before the invasion.
:09:09. > :09:15.But Iraq after 2003 offered Al-Qaeda a haven
:09:16. > :09:17.and launch pad that Islamic State is still using.
:09:18. > :09:19.Small numbers of British troops who we filmed on condition
:09:20. > :09:27.At this base, Australians and New Zealanders
:09:28. > :09:32.It is a long way from what Chilcot caused the humiliating
:09:33. > :09:35.It is a long way from what Chilcot calls the humiliating
:09:36. > :09:36.end of an intervention that went badly wrong,
:09:37. > :10:01.With me in the studio is former US Defence Secretary and BBC World
:10:02. > :10:09.the report says the war was based on flawed intelligence, which the US
:10:10. > :10:12.also bought into, particularly that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass
:10:13. > :10:17.destruction? Indeed. I think the US was the
:10:18. > :10:20.moving force behind this operation, and the British were, I think,
:10:21. > :10:27.determined to be with the United States no matter what. If you look
:10:28. > :10:31.at Tony Blair's letter, that is quoted in the report, a laser very
:10:32. > :10:34.specifically things that needed to be done. We don't know what the
:10:35. > :10:40.answers to those were, but we don't think they were done. So I think it
:10:41. > :10:43.is laid out very clearly. We didn't have adequate intelligence or
:10:44. > :10:49.adequate planning, and I think the report Stansbury well.
:10:50. > :10:53.Well, the report is so damning on the matter of that planning, it says
:10:54. > :10:57.the planning and preparations for Iraq after Saddam Hussein were
:10:58. > :11:01.wholly inadequate. They were inadequate. There was an
:11:02. > :11:05.assumption on the part of all of us, those in the Clinton administration
:11:06. > :11:10.as well as the Bush administration that Saddam had weapons of mass
:11:11. > :11:13.destruction. However, the Clinton administration came to the
:11:14. > :11:16.conclusion he posed no imminent threat, and we were determined to
:11:17. > :11:23.stay out of Iraq last Saddam Hussein invaded Saudi Arabia, or QA, or
:11:24. > :11:25.attacked Israel. It is easy to say that, the doubling changed after
:11:26. > :11:31.September the 11th, didn't it? You can see why he thought Saddam
:11:32. > :11:37.Hussein would be a threat as well. Yes, but they tried to make a link
:11:38. > :11:41.to 9/11 that was not real. Saddam did not have a nuclear weapons
:11:42. > :11:45.capability, and I think the rationale was really to displace
:11:46. > :11:47.Saddam and put democracy in its place, and that has been one of the
:11:48. > :11:51.biggest lessons we should take from this. Do not try to transplant
:11:52. > :11:55.democracy in soil that is not fertile for democracy.
:11:56. > :12:00.Just returning to the Chilcot Report and the reaction to it, the former
:12:01. > :12:04.Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who you knew when you are in the Clinton
:12:05. > :12:08.Administration, he has said that UK officials felt blindsided by US
:12:09. > :12:12.officials, particularly Paul Bremer, when he disbanded the Iraqi army.
:12:13. > :12:15.What do you make of that blindside in?
:12:16. > :12:19.That is correct. I think it was a mistake to have simply taken out the
:12:20. > :12:24.Iraqi army rather than trying to perhaps take the top officers and
:12:25. > :12:28.keep the army in place. But we did not take into contemplation the
:12:29. > :12:35.consequence of removing a regime with nothing in its place, and with
:12:36. > :12:39.inadequate resources to make sure they were stability for some time to
:12:40. > :12:42.come. We are paying the penalty for it to this day. We are learning a
:12:43. > :12:47.lot about the relationship between President George Bush and Tony
:12:48. > :12:50.Blair, from the letters unearthed by the Chilcot Inquiry.
:12:51. > :12:55.Eight months before the amazing, Tony Blair says the George Bush, I
:12:56. > :12:59.will be with you whatever. Does it surprise you, the closeness of their
:13:00. > :13:02.relationship? It seems like unconditional support.
:13:03. > :13:08.Not really, because Great Britain has been with the United States
:13:09. > :13:13.from... Certainly during my lifetime, and hopefully will
:13:14. > :13:15.continue in the future. This relationship is special. We have
:13:16. > :13:20.depended on each other, and I would go back and point out, in Libya, for
:13:21. > :13:23.example, that was a British initiative, yet the United States
:13:24. > :13:26.joined in that effort because the British had been with us, even
:13:27. > :13:30.though our former Secretary of Defense Bob Gates spoke out against
:13:31. > :13:33.going into Libya. We went nonetheless, because we wanted to be
:13:34. > :13:37.with them, because they had been with us. That is a relationship
:13:38. > :13:41.which will continue, but the report gives fair warning. Make sure you
:13:42. > :13:44.understand all the consequences before you ever take military
:13:45. > :13:47.action. As Defence Secretary, you know that.
:13:48. > :13:51.The report is extremely critical, and has the benefit of hindsight,
:13:52. > :13:54.but just how momentous is that decision, to go to war, when you
:13:55. > :13:58.take it? We're seeing it play out. The reason
:13:59. > :14:01.we should always be reluctant to release the dogs of war is that we
:14:02. > :14:04.may not be able to call them back, and if you look at the destruction
:14:05. > :14:11.that is taking place today in Syria, in Libya, in Yemen, and certainly in
:14:12. > :14:17.Iraq, thousands and thousands of people continue to die as a result
:14:18. > :14:22.of instability. So yes, we have two always make sure that before we ever
:14:23. > :14:26.go into a country, as we should have and not in Rwanda, but as we did in
:14:27. > :14:32.Kosovo, to make sure there was no ethnic cleansing on tens and
:14:33. > :14:35.hundreds of thousands of people, nonetheless, we have to have the
:14:36. > :14:39.planning, what takes place the day after you going. What is the plan
:14:40. > :14:45.for state lies in a country that you are attacking? And it is clear that
:14:46. > :14:46.we did not do their job for Iraq. -- stabilising a country.
:14:47. > :14:47.Thank you for joining us. More than 150,000 people died
:14:48. > :14:50.in Iraq during the war and in the years that followed,
:14:51. > :14:52.among them 179 British For years, many of their families
:14:53. > :14:56.had campaigned for an inquiry so they could find out the truth
:14:57. > :14:59.about why Britain went to war. Fergal Keane reports now
:15:00. > :15:01.on the families' reaction The bereaved have endured
:15:02. > :15:08.seven years of painful waiting Debbie Allbutt and her son Connor
:15:09. > :15:13.were on their way to hear Steven Allbutt, husband and father,
:15:14. > :15:20.was killed in Iraq in 2003. In the last few days,
:15:21. > :15:23.the trauma has returned. It has brought a lot
:15:24. > :15:38.of memories back. I had nightmares where he was still
:15:39. > :15:39.alive, and I saw him in a shop. Just horrible nightmares.
:15:40. > :15:44.I am just hoping we find out why we went in and why we went
:15:45. > :15:48.In the quiet of nearby Westminster Abbey, former SAS man
:15:49. > :15:51.John Brown was remembering his son, Nick, also an SAS trooper.
:15:52. > :15:54.He wanted answers about the justification for going to war.
:15:55. > :15:59.We want to know what the enquiry says about the entry,
:16:00. > :16:09.I know they did not have an exit strategy.
:16:10. > :16:14.The families came here looking for the truth that named names
:16:15. > :16:18.The families were invited to meet Sir John Chilcot, and read a summary
:16:19. > :16:19.of his report. The families came here looking
:16:20. > :16:21.for the truth that named names Well, they've now had
:16:22. > :16:24.a chance to consider The families gathered
:16:25. > :16:27.here trust that we speak The families say they will study
:16:28. > :16:31.the conclusions and decide whether to launch legal action
:16:32. > :16:33.against Tony Blair. I'm going back to that time
:16:34. > :16:42.when I learned that my brother had been killed and there is
:16:43. > :16:44.one terrorist in this world that the world needs to be aware
:16:45. > :16:48.of and his name is Tony Blair. But there was a welcome
:16:49. > :16:55.for the report's findings What is your reaction
:16:56. > :16:59.to what you heard? Amazed, I didn't expect it to be
:17:00. > :17:05.as good an outcome, really. I thought we would have a bit
:17:06. > :17:10.of cover up or something. Sir John Chilcot has
:17:11. > :17:13.done us a good job. I'm really, really
:17:14. > :17:17.pleased with the outcome. It's good news but at the same time
:17:18. > :17:23.it's bad news as well, because I think if Tony Blair
:17:24. > :17:26.wasn't the Prime Minister at the time, I think my dad
:17:27. > :17:29.could still have been here today. The former SAS man John Brown
:17:30. > :17:31.watched Tony Blair's For all of this, I express more
:17:32. > :17:43.sorrow, regret and apology. Tony Blair has just apologised.
:17:44. > :17:48.What does that mean to you? The Chilcot report has not given
:17:49. > :18:02.the families all the answers they sought, but it has restored
:18:03. > :18:05.some measure of their faith Now to another conflict even older
:18:06. > :18:12.than the war in Iraq, whose legacy President Barack Obama says he's
:18:13. > :18:21.slowing the withdrawal of American Originally, numbers were to drop
:18:22. > :18:25.from just under 10,00 to 5,500 Mr Obama now plans to leave 8,400
:18:26. > :18:31.troops in place into next year. Maintaining our forces
:18:32. > :18:36.at the specific level, based on our assessment
:18:37. > :18:41.of the security conditions and the strength of Afghan forces,
:18:42. > :18:44.will allow us to continue to provide tailored support to help Afghan
:18:45. > :18:46.forces continue to improve. From coalition bases in Jalalabad
:18:47. > :18:50.and Kandahar we will be able to continue supporting Afghan forces
:18:51. > :18:56.on the ground and in the air and continue
:18:57. > :19:00.supporting critical Our correspondent Nick Bryant
:19:01. > :19:12.joins me in the studio. So, then Obama famously came to
:19:13. > :19:15.office promising to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, particularly
:19:16. > :19:19.in Afghanistan. Why is he having such difficulty ending it? He is
:19:20. > :19:24.worried that of America withdraws to the number he intended, which was
:19:25. > :19:27.5500, a long way from the 100,000 that were there during the height of
:19:28. > :19:31.the surge, there was a danger that Afghanistan could again become a
:19:32. > :19:37.safe haven for terrorists, as he put it, which it was pre-9/11. He said
:19:38. > :19:42.the security situation there was very precarious, he wanted to give
:19:43. > :19:46.US forces additional options as they worked alongside the Afghan army in
:19:47. > :19:52.trying to combat the Taliban and combating terrorism in the country.
:19:53. > :19:56.And he also pointed out that, for instance, in the last 18 months, 38
:19:57. > :20:01.American civilians and US personnel have died in Afghanistan. So the
:20:02. > :20:05.security situation there is far from stable. There is clearly a worry, in
:20:06. > :20:08.the White House and Pentagon especially, that a precipitous
:20:09. > :20:12.withdrawal would make that situation worse. So he has kind of
:20:13. > :20:15.compromised. A lot of former generals in the matadors were
:20:16. > :20:22.calling for a freeze. He has not done that, but a small reduction in
:20:23. > :20:26.force levels, to about 8400, rather than the 5500 he was aiming for.
:20:27. > :20:30.And the UN estimates that the Taliban now controls more territory
:20:31. > :20:34.in Afghanistan than at any time since 2001. Does the White House
:20:35. > :20:38.have anything to say about that? What is edgily called for today is a
:20:39. > :20:42.political settlement in Afghanistan, involving the Taliban. A couple of
:20:43. > :20:45.invitations had been given to the Taliban. America is working
:20:46. > :20:49.alongside the Afghan government, China and Pakistan in trying to get
:20:50. > :20:55.the Taliban to the negotiating table. But those two invitations
:20:56. > :20:58.have been rebuffed by the Taliban. Perhaps some of the preconditions or
:20:59. > :21:02.demands America have made are just too tough for the Taliban. They have
:21:03. > :21:06.called for them to denounce violence, to adopt the Afghan
:21:07. > :21:09.constitution, with all its protections for women and
:21:10. > :21:12.minorities, so they want a political process, but again, it seems very
:21:13. > :21:15.far off at the moment. Thank you very much for joining us.
:21:16. > :21:17.Now a look at some of the day's other news.
:21:18. > :21:19.The US Justice Department will investigate the fatal shooting
:21:20. > :21:22.by police of a black man in the city of Baton Rouge,
:21:23. > :21:26.There have been protests overnight after a video emerged showing two
:21:27. > :21:28.white policemen apparently holding the man down and shooting him.
:21:29. > :21:31.The police say they were responding to an allegation that the suspect
:21:32. > :21:35.The pound has hit a fresh 31-year low against the dollar as worries
:21:36. > :21:38.over the UK's exit from the European Union continue
:21:39. > :21:44.At one point, it dropped below $1.28 before rebounding to $1.29.
:21:45. > :21:46.Analysts blamed warnings from the Bank of England that Brexit
:21:47. > :21:52.A court in Spain has sentenced the Argentina and Barcelona
:21:53. > :21:54.footballer, Lionel Messi, to twenty-one months in prison
:21:55. > :21:59.The striker was fined more than two million dollars.
:22:00. > :22:02.His father, Jorge, was also sentenced to prison.
:22:03. > :22:05.Neither is expected to serve any time in jail as under Spanish law,
:22:06. > :22:11.short prison sentences are usually suspended.
:22:12. > :22:19.The South African athlete has been sentenced to six years in prison
:22:20. > :22:21.for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in 2013.
:22:22. > :22:23.Last year, the court overturned his original conviction
:22:24. > :22:25.for manslaughter, instead finding him guilty of murder.
:22:26. > :22:30.Our correspondent Karen Allen reports from Pretoria.
:22:31. > :22:33.An undignified end for a fallen hero.
:22:34. > :22:36.Oscar Pistorius is led away to jail to begin his six-year sentence,
:22:37. > :22:44.For the father of Reeva Steenkamp, whose
:22:45. > :22:46.testimony revealed how his life had been torn apart,
:22:47. > :22:53.Inside a packed courtroom, a sense of hushed
:22:54. > :22:56.expectation as the judge said she had to strike a balance between
:22:57. > :23:00.deterrence, punishment and the seriousness of the crime.
:23:01. > :23:04.By its very nature, punishment is unpleasant, it is
:23:05. > :23:09.uncomfortable, it is painful and it's inconvenient.
:23:10. > :23:14.It is certainly not what you love to do.
:23:15. > :23:23.In the result, the sentence that I impose on the accused for the
:23:24. > :23:27.murder, dolus eventualis, of the deceased, that
:23:28. > :23:35.is Reeva Steenkamp, is six years imprisonment.
:23:36. > :23:37.Reeva Steenkamp's parents glance around the courtroom,
:23:38. > :23:40.almost in disbelief that this day has finally come.
:23:41. > :23:44.A six-year sentence means that Oscar Pistorius will have to serve
:23:45. > :23:47.at least three years before being eligible for parole.
:23:48. > :23:49.He begged the world to believe it had all been a
:23:50. > :23:54.terrible mistake, the judge exercising considerable discretion.
:23:55. > :23:56.Now for the grieving family of Reeva Steenkamp,
:23:57. > :24:03.And for Oscar Pistorius, a tearful embrace from his sister Amy
:24:04. > :24:08.just seconds before he's led down to the cells.
:24:09. > :24:11.It's now more than three years since this couple's fate hit the
:24:12. > :24:14.headlines after the athlete fired four shots through a closed bathroom
:24:15. > :24:20.In the court case that followed, Oscar Pistorius
:24:21. > :24:24.was found guilty of manslaughter but a year later it was converted to
:24:25. > :24:30.In an exclusive interview after court, the athlete's
:24:31. > :24:34.uncle told me Oscar Pistorius was frightened about
:24:35. > :24:40.If it's not frightening, I think it would still be stupid.
:24:41. > :24:46.If you're frightened, your senses sharpen up,
:24:47. > :24:52.your awareness becomes better, so frightened is good.
:24:53. > :24:53.This is the prison where Oscar Pistorius
:24:54. > :24:56.has already spent time for manslaughter.
:24:57. > :25:03.Today marks the closing chapter of what has been
:25:04. > :25:08.Oscar Pistorius, once a sporting legend, haunted by
:25:09. > :25:17.a sense of remorse, now disappeared from public view the service time.
:25:18. > :25:20.a sense of remorse, now disappeared from public view to serve his time.
:25:21. > :25:30.Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has delivered a strong defence
:25:31. > :25:34.of the 2003 Iraq War in response to a long-awaited report by a public
:25:35. > :25:38.enquiry. At a news conference, Mr Blair insisted he had not misled the
:25:39. > :25:42.country or lied to it. Mr Blair said he took full responsibility for any
:25:43. > :25:44.mistakes without exception and without excuse.
:25:45. > :25:47.The enquiry has found that the decision to go to war was based on
:25:48. > :25:49.flawed intelligence and wasn't properly discussed with the British
:25:50. > :25:53.Cabinet. It said there had been no imminent
:25:54. > :25:56.threat from Iraq's then leader Saddam Hussein, and peaceful options
:25:57. > :25:57.for disarming its government had not been exhausted.
:25:58. > :26:07.From me, Laura Trevelyan, and the rest of the team, goodbye.
:26:08. > :26:16.Good evening. Many of us had a fine day today. You may have noticed some
:26:17. > :26:20.spectacular cloud formations, with examples of these wispy clouds in
:26:21. > :26:25.the atmosphere. In the short-term, weather fronts I were racing in our
:26:26. > :26:26.direction, spelling some rain, but not an awful lot. In