Sir John Chilcot presents the Iraq Inquiry Report in London on July 6, 2016.
Credit: Dan Kitwood / AP

LONDON — What can you say about a 13-year-old war that destroyed a country and killed hundreds of thousands of people? If you are John Chilcot, chairman of the Iraq Inquiry—the official British investigation into the causes and conduct of the Iraq War—the answer turns out to be quite a lot. Released on Wednesday morning—a little under seven years after the inquiry was first announced—the Chilcot Report’s 2.6 million words fill 12 volumes, and would take about nine days of around-the-clock reading to finish.

It may well be that, as in so many American government White Papers, the most significant findings are buried deep in the footnotes. But even judging by the early coverage, the findings are damning enough to ensure that unlike Henry Kissinger, Tony Blair will remain a political pariah for the rest […]