Dear Editor,
On a recent visit to England, two news items caught my interest and caused me to feel some jealousy regarding the manner in which UK authorities/leadership responded to each issue.
The first had to do with the Chilcot Inquiry report — named after the chairman of the inquiry, Sir John Chilcot. The inquiry dealt with the UK’s involvement in the Iraqi war of 2003. Among the many findings was that: “The UK went to war before peaceful options were exhausted…” and that the “…invasion was based on ‘flawed intelligence and assessments’ that were unchallenged.”
The significance of the outcome of this report, to date, is that Tony Blair, who was the UK prime minister at the time of the war, had accepted “full responsibility for any mistakes” that occurred as a result of his decisions or actions. Second, and to my mind more importantly, a sincere desire arose among the UK leadership to learn from these events.
The other news item involved the “deeply flawed” Cumbria police investigation into the death of a 13-month-old girl, Poppi Worthington. In this case, the chief constable of the Cumbria constabulary not only expressed regret for the manner in which the investigation was conducted, but also publicly apologised. Of significance, too, in this case was that the Member of Parliament was quoted as saying, “It is right that we have had a full, sincere and heartfelt apology from the police, but this does not exonerate the force or give them a clean bill of health.”
Both of these incidents and the response of leadership provide us in Jamaica some takeaway lessons. These include the importance of exercising openness and frankness, admitting when mistakes are made, and equally demonstrating the sincere desire to learn from mistakes. Certainly, in the Chilcot case, the supremacy of country over individual career or party political interests is worthy of emulation. Above all, we must emulate the demonstration by leaders that ‘sacred cow’ status is not in the best interest of the cow or the pastures in which it operates.
Colonel Allan Douglas
alldouglas@aol.com
On a recent visit to England, two news items caught my interest and caused me to feel some jealousy regarding the manner in which UK authorities/leadership responded to each issue.
The first had to do with the Chilcot Inquiry report — named after the chairman of the inquiry, Sir John Chilcot. The inquiry dealt with the UK’s involvement in the Iraqi war of 2003. Among the many findings was that: “The UK went to war before peaceful options were exhausted…” and that the “…invasion was based on ‘flawed intelligence and assessments’ that were unchallenged.”
The significance of the outcome of this report, to date, is that Tony Blair, who was the UK prime minister at the time of the war, had accepted “full responsibility for any mistakes” that occurred as a result of his decisions or actions. Second, and to my mind more importantly, a sincere desire arose among the UK leadership to learn from these events.
The other news item involved the “deeply flawed” Cumbria police investigation into the death of a 13-month-old girl, Poppi Worthington. In this case, the chief constable of the Cumbria constabulary not only expressed regret for the manner in which the investigation was conducted, but also publicly apologised. Of significance, too, in this case was that the Member of Parliament was quoted as saying, “It is right that we have had a full, sincere and heartfelt apology from the police, but this does not exonerate the force or give them a clean bill of health.”
Both of these incidents and the response of leadership provide us in Jamaica some takeaway lessons. These include the importance of exercising openness and frankness, admitting when mistakes are made, and equally demonstrating the sincere desire to learn from mistakes. Certainly, in the Chilcot case, the supremacy of country over individual career or party political interests is worthy of emulation. Above all, we must emulate the demonstration by leaders that ‘sacred cow’ status is not in the best interest of the cow or the pastures in which it operates.
Colonel Allan Douglas
alldouglas@aol.com