Iraq War Inquiry pledges to expose 'full story' behind invasion decision

Published on Sunday 22 November 2009 22:12

THE head of the long-awaited Iraq War Inquiry pledged to produce a "full and insightful" account of the decision-making process which took Britain into the conflict.

On the eve of the first public hearings, retired Whitehall mandarin Sir John Chilcot said he and his team would not shrink from making criticisms of individuals or organisations if they were justified.

But at the same time, he stressed the inquiry was not a court of law set up to determine issues of guilt and innocence.

Their job, he said, was to "write the narrative in order to learn the lessons for the future".

To that end, he said that the witness hearings which begin tomorrow in Westminster would forgo the "adversarial ding-dong" of the courtroom to try to get "a naturalness" into the exchanges.

"We are looking for the human reaction to the key questions about people's responsibility at any particular time or any particular bit of the Iraq adventure," he said. "We actually want natural exchanges about what happened and why – how people felt about it – which you can't do in a courtroom atmosphere."

However, the relative informality of the proceedings should not, he cautioned, fool any of the witnesses into believing that they could pull the wool over the inquiry's eyes.

"Because we have so much documentary evidence, a witness who sought to hold something back or mis-describe something would be on a loser because we already have all the factual underpinning," he said.

Among those whose reactions they will be seeking are former prime minister Tony Blair – although not until the New Year.

The run-up to Christmas will focus on the senior officials, diplomats and military officers.

Sir John said he and his four fellow inquiry members were not going into it with a "preconceived set of ten main issues" but would instead allow themes to emerge through the course of the proceedings.

Nevertheless, having worked their way through a "mountain range" of documentary evidence, as well as meeting the families of most of the 179 British service personnel who lost their lives in the campaign, some of the main areas were clear.

They included the perennial issue of resources – whether there was enough "manpower and material" – the interaction between political decision-making and military planning, and aftercare for the bereaved and wounded.

However, as Sir John acknowledged, for many people the overriding questions will be whether Britain was right to go to war and whether the conflict was legal.

Asked if he could provide the definitive answers, Sir John said: "Definitive in one sense, yes, but not definitive in the sense of a court verdict of legal or illegal. It is much closer to high policy decisions – was this a wise decision, was it well-taken, was it founded on good advice and good information and analysis?

"International law, where you can't adjudicate it anywhere, is of the same character. So far as we are concerned, that is what we have to do. I am quite confident we can come up with a full and insightful description of the different considerations affecting the legality of the war."

Despite the strong emotions surrounding this most contentious of issues, he stressed that the inquiry would not allow them to affect their findings.

"We are there to write the story as we can best find it and interpret it," he said.

Sir John said he trusted the inquiry's final report would be accessible to the public and that they would come up with practical recommendations for the future.

BACKGROUND

SIR JOHN Chilcot is a Cambridge graduate who retired from the civil service at the end of 1997 after seven years as permanent under-secretary of state at the Northern Ireland Office.

The 70-year-old has held posts in the Home Office, Civil Service Department and Cabinet Office.

Sir John has worked on a number of reviews including those into Royal and VIP security, and the Butler review into intelligence on weapons of mass destruction.