As I may have mentioned before, nothing in the Haddon-Cave report came as a surprise except his willingness, presumably with MoD's agreement, to name retired 3 Stars. (The fact he demonstrably got the wrong people is another matter).
Hitherto, I have never known anyone at 2 Star and above to be so openly criticised and even in very recent cases (while Haddon-Cave was reviewing) MoD have declined to even contemplate reviewing new evidence on the grounds that the perpetrators are either retired or have moved to another post.
Now there is a precedent. Haddon-Cave was prepared to go back in time to 1998 - 8 years before the Nimrod accident. Given the irrefutable evidence now before Lord Philip, I hope he does precisely the same. (7 years, almost to the day, will do in this case). Not surprisingly, the focus would be on one of General Cowan's predecessors (he was CDL, previously AML, AMSO).
Hopefully, such a focus will serve to right that particular wrong as well, revealing just how ludicrous it was to criticise General Cowan. I have nothing but respect for the man's fortitude since it must have been patently obvious to him that he'd been set up by former "colleagues" who knew precisely when the real damage had been done and by whom. Not unlike the actions taken against the pilots of ZD576.