The truth is out there but we are not getting to see it.
The Chilcot Inquiry into the war in Iraq is still under wraps.
It has taken more than five years to complete, cost £10 million and could yet be buried until after the election.
The inquiry under Sir John Chilcot was originally due for publication in 2011. Its continued suppression is becoming a major scandal.
It is now 12 years since Prime Minister Blair misled this country into one of the least-justified and misjudged conflicts in history.
As a result, his reputation and standing has been destroyed in a way which few other Prime Ministers have experienced.
He may be feted on the international lecture circuit but this fallen prophet is treated in his own country with barely disguised contempt.
Last year, a London barman even attempted a citizen’s arrest of a man many now regard as little better than a war criminal.For more from Alex Salmond, see Monday’s CourierThe Chilcot Inquiry was meant to get to the bottom of what had happened. Maybe it did, maybe it didn’t we don’t know and we are increasingly unlikely to know before the election.
Many are beginning to smell a gigantic rat.
Professor Philippe Sands of University College London claims the matter is political.
“Who exactly is responsible for the delay is unclear but it is hard to avoid the suspicion that party political considerations might be involved in the delay,” he said.
Family members of dead soldiers are more direct. One said: “I can understand why Mr Blair and a few others don’t want things to come out because there was deceit behind closed doors.
“But for me and for the other families, the delays just keep poking a wound that you’re trying to heal.”
So who is really behind the delays? The word is that the report was finished almost two years ago. The reasons for its non-appearance are thought to be two-fold.
First, there was a long argument about the release of correspondence between Blair and President George W Bush. Last May, John Chilcot revealed a compromise in which the “gists or quotes” would be released instead.
This was hardly satisfactory, given Blair’s former henchman Alastair Campbell has already published his own spin of these same conversations in his diaries.
Second, there is the process known as “Maxwellisation”, whereby those facing criticism in the report get the chance to prepare their defences.
This seems to have degenerated into a long, drawn-out argument with blocking and tackling designed to further delay the release.
So who really has most to lose?
Blair is number one on the firing line. We know from the late Robin Cook’s diaries that Blair knew full well Iraq did not possess the long-range WMDs suggested in the motions tabled before parliament.
Blair also knew his notorious “45 minute claim”, made at the time of the September 2002 dossier, was totally false but he never had it withdrawn.
We also know from the evidence of UN weapons inspector Hans Blix that containment of Saddam Hussein was actually working.
There is also evidence Blair had prior committed himself to war alongside Bush, with or without United Nations authorisation.
It is a substantial charge sheet. It carries with it the responsibility for hundreds of thousands dead, countless billions spent and the dark well of fanaticism across the world replenished.
However, Blair was not alone. There will be inconvenient truths revealed for others.
Many Labour figures were cheerleaders for the war, including their new Scots leader Jim Murphy. There will be plenty of collateral damage for Labour in the Chilcot report.
Similarly, David Cameron was a pro-war Tory backbencher in 2003 and his senior colleagues were as gung ho as Blair.
In the account in Campbell’s diaries, George W Bush offers to have then Tory leader Ian Duncan Smith phoned and ordered by America to back Blair.
So despite the huffing, puffing and hand wringing, the Westminster establishment have no real interest in publication before the election.
Of course they will say they want publication but with a few honourable exceptions, they would rather the report stayed safely buried. But they should not be allowed to get away with it.
There must be enough independent-minded MPs and MSPs with the bottle to demand publication now.
Publish and let those who should, be damned.