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Iraq inquiry head wants 'as much as possible in public'
23.06.09
The head of the forthcoming inquiry into the Iraq war said it was "essential to hold as much of the proceedings of the inquiry as possible in public".
Sir John Chilcot, in a letter to Prime Minister Gordon Brown, said he would consult with opposition party leaders and senior MPs before deciding the exact format of the inquiry.
But he told the PM: "More broadly, I believe it will be essential to hold as much of the proceedings of the inquiry as possible in public, consistent with the need to protect national security and to ensure and enable complete candour in the oral and written evidence from witnesses."
Mr Brown initially said that the inquiry would be held behind closed doors but then announced some evidence could be taken in public following an outcry over the secrecy.
Sir John also agreed the need to give the families of those who died or were "seriously affected" by the conflict "an early opportunity to express their views about the nature and procedures of the inquiry, and to express them either in public or in private as they prefer".
"That will be important in helping us to decide how to go about the task, and explain what we are going to do," he wrote yesterday.
Former premier Sir John Major, senior military figures including ex-head of the Army Sir Mike Jackson and the head of the last official inquiry on the war, Lord Butler of Brockwell, were among critics who forced Mr Brown into a partial climbdown over openness.
No 10 sought to defuse the row by suggesting the Government did not have a "theological" attachment to closed hearings and that Sir John would have a degree of discretion in how he conducted proceedings.
Tony Blair, who was prime minister at the time of the invasion, was reported at the weekend to have urged his successor to keep the hearings secret to avoid them becoming a show trial.
In his letter, the inquiry chairman welcomed "the fact that I and my colleagues are free to decide independently how best to fulfil our remit.
"I will indeed, as you suggest, examine how best, given the non-judicial nature of the inquiry, a formal undertaking can be given by witnesses that their contributions will be complete, truthful and accurate," he wrote.
Critics have insisted that witnesses, such as Mr Blair, should give evidence under oath.
He said he had begun, at Mr Brown's suggestion, talks with the main opposition party leaders and the chairs of the relevant Commons select committees and the Intelligence and Security Committee.
He suggested that a "significant part" of the inquiry, especially in the early stages, would be taken up with analysis of the vast quantities of documentary evidence related to the build-up, conduct and aftermath of the invasion stretching over seven years.
"By definition, that part of the process cannot be conducted in public sessions," he noted.
Critics have accused the Prime Minister of deliberately timing the inquiry, due to begin next month and last a year, to ensure it does not report before the next general election.
"While I do not rule out the possibility, it seems to me clear that the causes and effects of particular phases of these events cannot simply be divided up so as to separate clearly one period from another," Sir John said.
"To take one obvious example, the existence or otherwise of weapons of mass destruction could not be established with any reliability until well after the conflict phase, after the work of the Iraq Survey Group and others had gone as far as it could, while before the event the outstanding possibility had significant implications for the military deployment into the initial conflict phase."
Shadow foreign secretary William Hague said: "The Prime Minister has been executing a U-turn in slow motion ever since announcing the inquiry.
"Characteristically he could not bring himself to confirm this in Parliament but has passed the buck to Sir John Chilcot.
"This is a climb-down of massive proportions from the Prime Minister, whose own proposals for the Iraq inquiry were so ill-thought through and hastily executed that they have attracted nothing but condemnation from all quarters."
Mr Hague will lead a Commons debate tomorrow, calling for the membership of the inquiry team to be "wider and more diverse" and for proceedings to be held in public "whenever possible".
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said said an independent process was needed to decide what evidence is heard in private.
In his reply to Sir John's letter, Mr Brown said: "I believe your proposals will manage to meet both the need not to compromise national security but also enable the independent inquiry also to hold public sessions helping to build public confidence."
