It has been reported that the current head of the army may be criticised in the long-delayed report of the Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war. A precedent exists for such a rebuke, as Alistair Lexden pointed out in a letter published in The Times on August 22.
Sir, If General Sir Nicholas Houghton should be the subject of criticism by the Chilcot inquiry, he will not be the first serving armed forces chief “to face censure” (“Chilcot will take aim at top military commander”, Aug.21). The Dardanelles Commission, which was set up in 1916 and reported the following year, delivered a bleak assessment of General Sir Ian Hamilton’s performance as commander of allied forces during the Gallipoli campaign.
He was blamed for a “miscalculation of the strength of the Turkish defences” and for not having “impartially weighed the possibilities of success and failure, having regard to the resources in men and material which could be placed at his disposal”. Unlike today’s top brass, he was given no opportunity to comment on the criticisms before they were published.
Lord Lexden
House of Lords