LONDON: The head of a British inquiry into the Iraq war said Thursday he will call former Prime Minister Tony Blair to testify about the run-up to the conflict, but acknowledged it is unlikely that senior Bush administration officials would give evidence.
John Chilcot, a former senior civil servant, said the relationship between Britain and the United States would form a key part of his panel’s attempts to consider errors made by Britain, the US and other allies before, during and in the aftermath of the 2003 Iraq invasion.
Chilcot said that he hoped to take evidence from the “key decision makers,” but conceded that it is unlikely top officials from former US President George W. Bush’s government would join Blair in giving evidence to the independent panel.
“We certainly plan to have discussions, on as broad a basis as we can, and that must include clearly, people in the United States as well as elsewhere. Discussions and evidence sessions are not necessarily the same thing, and of course we have no power to compel witnesses here, let alone in foreign governments,” Chilcot said. Prime Minister Gordon Brown asked Chilcot to hold an inquiry to examine the period from the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States through to the current situation in Iraq, scrutinizing prewar intelligence and postwar decisions on reconstruction. Bereaved families and anti-war activists have long called on the government to convene an independent inquiry to consider errors made in intelligence and in postwar planning by Britain, the United States and other allies.
“If we find that mistakes were made, that there were issues which could have been dealt with better, we will say so frankly,” Chilcot told reporters.
He said his panel, which includes four other officials, is likely to visit Iraq. He insisted that he expects any witness called to testify to agree to give evidence.
“That will, of course, include the former prime minister and other senior figures involved in decision-taking,” Chilcot said.
Blair’s office said that the former British leader is prepared to give testimony, and to appear in public.
Chilcot said some evidence sessions will be held in private to protect national security, but that most of the testimony will likely be given in public and potentially broadcast on television or on a website.
Findings of the inquiry are not likely to be published before next summer, meaning the report will be made public after Britain’s next national election, which must be held by June 2010.
Two British inquiries into aspects of Britain’s decision to join the US-led Iraq war have already been held.
One cleared the government of blame for the death of David Kelly, a government weapons scientist who killed himself in 2003 after he was exposed as the source of a British Broadcasting Corp. report that accused Blair’s office of “sexing up” prewar intelligence.
A separate 2004 inquiry into intelligence on Iraq also cleared Blair’s government, but criticized intelligence officials for relying on seriously flawed or unreliable sources.
