Inquiry into Iraq war hides more than it reveals

The investigation by retired British civil servant and diplomat John Chilcot into the decision-making that dragged Britain into the war in Iraq is a postmortem, even though the inquiry report points the finger directly at former British prime minister Tony Blair for lying about the intelligence on weapons of mass destruction and the Foreign Office's warnings of the overwhelming chaos that would follow an invasion of Iraq.

The world, at least those not blind and deaf to reason, already knew the unsavory, tragic truth. The conscientious world also knew that former US president George W. Bush - fooled he might have been by his advisers and profit-seekers from death and destruction - was the warmongering leader behind whom Blair found his true bearing.

The postmortem into the war, true to British virtue, was necessary to establish the role of the leading players who forced Iraq into an avoidable dance of death and destruction. But just like an autopsy cannot breathe life into a cadaver, the postmortem into the war cannot bring back to life the people who have died or restore the country to its former state - the homeless cannot get back their homes, the kids their childhood, the refugees the motherland they knew, and the environment and ecology their lost glory.