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So anyway. While Alastair Campbell gets the collywobbles over being asked to give a straight answer to a straight question and Tony Blair is whinging about the ‘conspiracy theorists‘ that won’t leave him alone (it’s great to know it really bothers him), how are things in long-forgotten Iraq?

(You remember Iraq, don’t you? That place out east that this is all about in the first place. It’s easy to forget that what with all these politicians’ fragile egos, reputations and book sales to worry about).

It seems that, seven years after the war, achieving democracy in Iraq remains very much an ‘aspiration’ (New Labour, after all, loves a good ‘aspiration‘; they’re so pleasingly lacking in concrete and promise). When giving evidence to the Chilcot Inquiry, Blair said: ‘It is too early to say right now whether the Iraqi democracy will take root and will function effectively, although… there are really hopeful signs.’

Really hopeful signs?

Last month, an unelected commission held over from the early days of the US occupation of Iraq, the Justice and Accountability Commission, issued a shocking ruling banning more than 500 candidates from taking part in the election, including a number of members of the current parliament running for reelection… Secular politicians, nationalists, former Baathists with low-level positions, dissident Baathists who left the party in the 1970s (such as Allawi and Mutlaq), and many others are painted as blood-stained criminals and “Saddamists.” The fact that Maliki has descended to such bitter and petty name calling signals that the prime minister has abandoned any pretense of trying to rise about sectarianism to become a national leader. For the election, at least, Maliki has thrown his lot in with the pro-Iranian clique. *

The Justice and Accountability Commission is run by Ahmed Chalabi. He, for those who don’t remember, was the Iraqi exile and ‘convicted fraudster‘ who helped supply the piss poor intelligence on Iraq’s WMD that made the ‘case’ for war. Funny how all the comedians with a hand in doing that are still around and doing well.

So much for the ‘really hopeful signs’ for Iraqi ‘democracy’ (does that jackass even read the newspapers, do you think?) How are things for ordinary Iraqis? Let’s have a look…

More than 40 sites across Iraq are contaminated with high levels or radiation and dioxins, with three decades of war and neglect having left environmental ruin in large parts of the country, an official Iraqi study has found. Areas in and near Iraq’s largest towns and cities, including Najaf, Basra and ­Falluja, account for around 25% of the contaminated sites, which appear to coincide with communities that have seen increased rates of cancer and birth defects over the past five years…

Just super. Anyone see ‘really hopeful signs’ there? And to think Tony’s worried about his toxic legacy.

* Thanks to Mr P for the link.