The Chilcot inquiry into the UK’s involvement in the invasion of Iraq was released today - and its conclusions are pretty damning.

In 2009, the Chilcot inquiry was set up by then British prime minister Gordon Brown. The inquiry spoke to 150 people, published 2.6 million words at a total cost of £10 million, all with the aim of examining the fateful decisions that led to the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003. The well-publicised motives behind the invasion of Iraq were two-fold. Firstly, the U.S accused Iraq of having weapons of mass destruction (WMD), a claim which turned out to be false. Secondly, they pointed to former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s supposed links to terrorist group Al-Qaeda, drawing Iraq into then US president George W. Bush's "War on Terrorism". https://twitter.com/sinisteragent/status/750677906305720320 The report has been regarded as a damning indictment of the actions of former British prime minister Tony Blair in the lead up to and during the Iraqi war. https://twitter.com/BBCNews/status/750674090407723008 The main findings of the report are as follows:

• The decision to go to war was based on “flawed intelligence”.
• The UK went to war without adequately exhausting all peaceful options.
• Although Saddam Hussein was a “brutal dictator”, he was not an imminent threat and military action “was not a last resort”, as Blair had so doggedly insisted.
• Blair deliberately exaggerated the threat posed by the Iraqi regime.
• British soldiers on the front line were inadequately equipped with military gear.
• There was lack of strategy regarding post war Iraq upon invading.
• Intelligence regarding Iraq’s WMDs was presented by Blair “with a certainty that was not justified”.

https://twitter.com/BBCNews/status/750675546183458817 It is difficult to find an exact number of the deaths during the Iraq war. Estimates on the Iraqi side vary from 90,000-600,000 during the war, which spanned almost a decade from 2003-2011. The number of American deaths in the conflict have been estimated at 4,800, and 179 British soldiers lost their lives during the conflict. https://twitter.com/PA/status/750679312831918080 Tony Blair, who in June 2002 told George W. Bush that he was “with him whatever”, released a statement in response to the report, saying:

“The report should lay to rest allegations of bad faith, lies or deceit. Whether people agree or disagree with my decision to take military action against Saddam Hussein, I took it in good faith and in what I believed to be in the best interests of the country...

"...However the report does make real and material criticisms of preparation, planning, process and of the relationship with the United States. These are serious criticisms and they require serious answers. I will respond in detail to them later this afternoon. 

https://twitter.com/BBCBreaking/status/750682433347989504 Blair's former adviser Alastair Campbell said the PM was "just following intelligence" at the time. https://twitter.com/itvnews/status/750678289040216065 But families of those killed in Iraq have since held a news conference, hosted on The Guardian website. https://twitter.com/guardian/status/750664107104362496   Mark Thompson, father of Kevin, who was killed in 2007, said: "[Blair] destroyed families. We have lost grandchildren. We have lost a daughter-in-law. He’s got everything. He should be stripped of everything he has for what he’s done. It was an illegal war. My son died in vain. He died for no reason.” Pauline Graham, grandmother of 19-year-old Gordon Gentle who died in the conflict, added: “Now we know where we stand and what we can do. Tony Blair should betaken to court for trial for murder. He can’t get away with this any more.” The public and wider reaction to the report, and Tony Blair's part in the decision-making, has been equally negative so far. The current Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn said the Iraq invasion was an “act of military aggression, launched on a false pretext”. https://twitter.com/Sean__Clare/status/750672052160528384

Tony Blair's then Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, had this to say:

https://twitter.com/BBCNews/status/750671347643215872 https://twitter.com/bloggerheads/status/750676952697176064 https://twitter.com/damiengayle/status/750640966202167296 https://twitter.com/theSNP/status/750675754099220481 https://twitter.com/omid9/status/750671137965764608 A lot of social media users are re-posting the late British Lib Dem politician Charles Kennedy's legendary speech in the House of Commons in which he denounced the UK's rush to war in Iraq. https://twitter.com/GeorgeSevers10/status/750671037524807680   The BBC reports on what might happen next now that Chilcot is finally out in the open. https://twitter.com/BBCNews/status/750668932416176128