Injured Doncaster Iraq veteran fears Chilcott '˜whitewash'

A Doncaster soldier who lost both of his legs in a suicide bomb blast in Iraq fears the long awaited Chilcot report will be a '˜whitewash'.
Mick BrennanMick Brennan
Mick Brennan

Mick Brennan, aged 36, says he expected the report into Britain’s bitterly contested invasion of Iraq to generate more questions than it answered.

Sir John Chilcot delivered his verdict on the UK’s most controversial military engagement of the post-war era today.

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Presenting a summary of the 2.6 million-word report, Sir John Chilcot said the then prime minister Tony Blair committed British troops to the 2003 invasion before the peaceful options for Iraq’s disarmament had been exhausted.

Former sergeant Mick Brennan said: “Hopefully the families will get some answers from this report but I don’t think this will give them closure as I think it will raise more questions, I think this will throw things back up in the air and things will be swept under the rug.

“I think this is going to be like another Hillsborough situation where it could be another 30 years before we actually get the answers.

“For the families who lost relatives they just want closure so their sons and daughters can rest in peace.”

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The report comes thirteen years after British troops crossed into Iraq and seven years after the inquiry began work.

Mr Brennan says he is continuing his fight for as much as £500,000 in compensation because his injuries were sustained five months before rules were changed.

Mr Brennan, who went on to become a successful paralympian representing Great Britain in the Winter Paralympics in Sochi in 2014, says he is determined to get what he is entitled too.

He added: “I want to get on with my life and have the same financial guarantee that everyone else gets.

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“I have a good life, I’ve done well and I’m happy but this compensation issue is like little needle poking me constantly, I’m not angry or bitter but I just want the money that I’m entitled too so I have that closure.”

The report into the Iraq War concluded Tony Blair presented evidence about Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction “with a certainty that was not justified”.

Sir John also hit out at the lack of proper planning for the period after the fall of Saddam, which saw British troops involved in a prolonged and bloody occupation.

He said: “We have concluded that the UK chose to join the invasion of Iraq before the peaceful options for disarmament had been exhausted.

“Military action at that time was not a last resort.”