Bloody Sunday Inquiry Northern Ireland in 1972 and that while there should be no attempt to justify the killing of civilians by British paratroopers, senior defence officials emphasised that the events of Bloody Sunday were "a tragedy which belonged to another era" and should not reflect badly on the present day's armed forces. The Bloody Sunday Inquiry has generated controversy due to its prolonged nature, mounting costs and questions regarding its relevance. Some like Peter Oborne have labelled the inquiry a "shambles", estimating its final cost at "more than £200 million". He has suggested that while "Most people... accept that in Northern Ireland
Bloody Sunday (1972) shot". This was in sharp contrast to his insistence, for more than 30 years, that those killed on the day had not been innocent. In 2008 a former aide to British prime minister Tony Blair, Jonathan Powell, described Widgery as a "complete and utter whitewash". In 1998, Lt Col Derek Wilford expressed his anger at Tony Blair's intention of setting up the Saville inquiry, stating that he was proud of his actions on Bloody Sunday. Two years later in 2000 during an interview with the BBC, Wilford said: "There might have been things wrong in the sense that some innocent