Chilcot inquiry presses for release of Iraq war documents
17 Jul 2013:
Inquiry ready to warn individuals it intends to criticise in its long-delayed final report
Inquiry ready to warn individuals it intends to criticise in its long-delayed final report
Sir John Chilcot, chairman of the Iraq war inquiry. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images
The Chilcot inquiry into the way Britain went to war in Iraq in
2003 remains locked in dispute with the government over its refusal to
release official documents, including notes between Tony Blair and
George W Bush, it made clear on Wednesday.
In a letter to David Cameron published on the inquiry's website, Sir John Chilcot also said the inquiry was about to warn those individuals it intended to criticise in its long-delayed final report.
He said the inquiry had recently "begun a dialogue" with the cabinet secretary, Sir Jeremy Heywood, over material it wanted to include in its final report "to reflect its analysis of discussions in cabinet and cabinet committees and their significance".
The inquiry was also engaged in discussion with Heywood about references it wants to make to "the content of Mr Blair's notes to President Bush, and to the records of discussions between Mr Blair and Presidents Bush and Obama", he said.
In sharp exchanges last year with Lord O'Donnell, Heywood's predecessor, Chilcot said the release of notes of the conversations between Blair and Bush would serve to "illuminate Mr Blair's position at critical points" in the runup to war.
O'Donnell had consulted Blair before saying the notes must remain secret. Chilcot, who has seen the documents, told O'Donnell: "The question when and how the prime minister made commitments to the US about the UK's involvement in military action in Iraq, and subsequent decisions on the UK's continuing involvement, is central to its considerations."
Referring to passages in memoirs including Blair's autobiography, A Journey, Chilcot said he had been left in the position that individuals "may disclose privileged information (without sanction) whilst a committee of privy counsellors established by a former prime minister to review the issues cannot".
Chilcot told Cameron that the inquiry would "be in a position to begin the process of writing to individuals that may be criticised at the end of the month, with letters containing the provisional criticisms to follow at the end of October … That will be a confidential process."
Under the so-called Maxwellisation process, any individual an inquiry intends to criticise is offered the opportunity to make representations. Blair is likely to be one of those criticised, not least for not consulting his attorney general Lord Goldsmith or his cabinet colleagues in a proper manner before the March 2003 invasion.
Chilcot said the inquiry intended to complete "at the earliest opportunity" a report "which reflects the magnitude of the issues we have ben examining and the importance of the lessons we believe need to be learned".
The inquiry was set up in July 2009. By March it had cost £7.4m, according to its latest published figures.
COPY http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk-news
In a letter to David Cameron published on the inquiry's website, Sir John Chilcot also said the inquiry was about to warn those individuals it intended to criticise in its long-delayed final report.
He said the inquiry had recently "begun a dialogue" with the cabinet secretary, Sir Jeremy Heywood, over material it wanted to include in its final report "to reflect its analysis of discussions in cabinet and cabinet committees and their significance".
The inquiry was also engaged in discussion with Heywood about references it wants to make to "the content of Mr Blair's notes to President Bush, and to the records of discussions between Mr Blair and Presidents Bush and Obama", he said.
In sharp exchanges last year with Lord O'Donnell, Heywood's predecessor, Chilcot said the release of notes of the conversations between Blair and Bush would serve to "illuminate Mr Blair's position at critical points" in the runup to war.
O'Donnell had consulted Blair before saying the notes must remain secret. Chilcot, who has seen the documents, told O'Donnell: "The question when and how the prime minister made commitments to the US about the UK's involvement in military action in Iraq, and subsequent decisions on the UK's continuing involvement, is central to its considerations."
Referring to passages in memoirs including Blair's autobiography, A Journey, Chilcot said he had been left in the position that individuals "may disclose privileged information (without sanction) whilst a committee of privy counsellors established by a former prime minister to review the issues cannot".
Chilcot told Cameron that the inquiry would "be in a position to begin the process of writing to individuals that may be criticised at the end of the month, with letters containing the provisional criticisms to follow at the end of October … That will be a confidential process."
Under the so-called Maxwellisation process, any individual an inquiry intends to criticise is offered the opportunity to make representations. Blair is likely to be one of those criticised, not least for not consulting his attorney general Lord Goldsmith or his cabinet colleagues in a proper manner before the March 2003 invasion.
Chilcot said the inquiry intended to complete "at the earliest opportunity" a report "which reflects the magnitude of the issues we have ben examining and the importance of the lessons we believe need to be learned".
The inquiry was set up in July 2009. By March it had cost £7.4m, according to its latest published figures.
COPY http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk-news
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