Movement towards inquiry
Iraq war inquiry likely to be held in private, hints David Miliband
Foreign secretary says investigation will be set up after UK combat troops leave country in July
Andrew Sparrow, senior political correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 25 March 2009 16.41 GMT
David Miliband gave a strong hint today that the long-awaited inquiry into the Iraq war will hear evidence in private when it is set up later this year.
Speaking in a debate in the Commons, the foreign secretary said that the inquiry would be set up after British combat troops leave Iraq at the end of July.
And, without giving details of the nature of the inquiry, he also spoke of the "advantage" of having one conducted along the lines of the Franks inquiry set up after the Falklands war.
"The fact that it was conducted in private meant that it had access to all the relevant papers," Miliband said.
The Franks inquiry was conducted by privy counsellors. "Franks was not a judicial inquiry so it did not require its witnesses to have lawyers," Miliband said. "There were no leaks or interim findings to distract from the final conclusions and recommendations of the inquiry."
The foreign secretary was speaking in a debate called by the Tories, who have been calling for an inquiry into the events leading up to the invasion of Iraq and the conduct of the occupation for years.
The government has accepted the case for an inquiry but has argued that it should not take place while British troops are still in action in Iraq. When Gordon Brown announced last year that most troops would leave by this summer, government officials would not say whether that would be the trigger for an inquiry, or whether the prime minister would continue to delay because some soldiers would remain in Iraq.
Today Miliband said the government would not wait until the last solider returned. "We are talking about combat troops, not every troop," he said.
There are 4,100 British troops still based in Iraq. A rapid withdrawal will start at the end of May, and by 31 July fewer than 400 troops will be left.
Asked by the Tory MP Edward Leigh whether that meant the government would set up an inquiry "as soon as practical after July 31", Miliband replied: "Yes."
The Tories, who are in favour of an inquiry by privy counsellors and of it having the option of holding some sessions in private, said that it was "alarming" that parliament would be in recess on 31 July. They said the government should announce the inquiry before MPs left Westminster for the summer holidays.
The Liberal Democrats also supported the idea of a privy council inquiry, rather than a judicial one, although the foreign affairs spokesman, Ed Davey, said that it should meet in public as much as possible.
Opening the debate for the Tories, the shadow foreign secretary, William Hague, said that setting up an inquiry would be "one of the first acts" of an incoming Conservative administration if it were not operating already. He added that the Tories would also seek to widen any review set up by the current government if they felt it was not comprehensive enough.
Hague told MPs that because of the time it would take to establish an inquiry, moves should be made immediately so that it was ready for work as soon as troops returned home.
He accused the government of seeking to delay the establishment of a review so that it would report after the next general election.
Hague said: "Ministers may delay in an effort to reduce the force and relevance of what they know must come, but in the end we will learn the necessary lessons and we will learn from what went wrong in the functioning of the machinery of government itself.
"There is an utter determination in most quarters of this house that we will get to the heart of these matters, and that the processes and the functions of government and maybe parliament will be improved as a result."
The pressure for an inquiry has been intense because many people believe that the war was illegal under international law and that Tony Blair, the then prime minister, twisted intelligence evidence in order to justify the invasion.
The government has always insisted the invasion was legal. Although the Butler inquiry into the use of intelligence in the run-up to the war criticised the way some intelligence was interpreted, it did not find any evidence that ministers intended to deceive the public.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/mar/25/iraq-inquiry-secret
Foreign secretary says investigation will be set up after UK combat troops leave country in July
Andrew Sparrow, senior political correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 25 March 2009 16.41 GMT
David Miliband gave a strong hint today that the long-awaited inquiry into the Iraq war will hear evidence in private when it is set up later this year.
Speaking in a debate in the Commons, the foreign secretary said that the inquiry would be set up after British combat troops leave Iraq at the end of July.
And, without giving details of the nature of the inquiry, he also spoke of the "advantage" of having one conducted along the lines of the Franks inquiry set up after the Falklands war.
"The fact that it was conducted in private meant that it had access to all the relevant papers," Miliband said.
The Franks inquiry was conducted by privy counsellors. "Franks was not a judicial inquiry so it did not require its witnesses to have lawyers," Miliband said. "There were no leaks or interim findings to distract from the final conclusions and recommendations of the inquiry."
The foreign secretary was speaking in a debate called by the Tories, who have been calling for an inquiry into the events leading up to the invasion of Iraq and the conduct of the occupation for years.
The government has accepted the case for an inquiry but has argued that it should not take place while British troops are still in action in Iraq. When Gordon Brown announced last year that most troops would leave by this summer, government officials would not say whether that would be the trigger for an inquiry, or whether the prime minister would continue to delay because some soldiers would remain in Iraq.
Today Miliband said the government would not wait until the last solider returned. "We are talking about combat troops, not every troop," he said.
There are 4,100 British troops still based in Iraq. A rapid withdrawal will start at the end of May, and by 31 July fewer than 400 troops will be left.
Asked by the Tory MP Edward Leigh whether that meant the government would set up an inquiry "as soon as practical after July 31", Miliband replied: "Yes."
The Tories, who are in favour of an inquiry by privy counsellors and of it having the option of holding some sessions in private, said that it was "alarming" that parliament would be in recess on 31 July. They said the government should announce the inquiry before MPs left Westminster for the summer holidays.
The Liberal Democrats also supported the idea of a privy council inquiry, rather than a judicial one, although the foreign affairs spokesman, Ed Davey, said that it should meet in public as much as possible.
Opening the debate for the Tories, the shadow foreign secretary, William Hague, said that setting up an inquiry would be "one of the first acts" of an incoming Conservative administration if it were not operating already. He added that the Tories would also seek to widen any review set up by the current government if they felt it was not comprehensive enough.
Hague told MPs that because of the time it would take to establish an inquiry, moves should be made immediately so that it was ready for work as soon as troops returned home.
He accused the government of seeking to delay the establishment of a review so that it would report after the next general election.
Hague said: "Ministers may delay in an effort to reduce the force and relevance of what they know must come, but in the end we will learn the necessary lessons and we will learn from what went wrong in the functioning of the machinery of government itself.
"There is an utter determination in most quarters of this house that we will get to the heart of these matters, and that the processes and the functions of government and maybe parliament will be improved as a result."
The pressure for an inquiry has been intense because many people believe that the war was illegal under international law and that Tony Blair, the then prime minister, twisted intelligence evidence in order to justify the invasion.
The government has always insisted the invasion was legal. Although the Butler inquiry into the use of intelligence in the run-up to the war criticised the way some intelligence was interpreted, it did not find any evidence that ministers intended to deceive the public.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/mar/25/iraq-inquiry-secret
posted by Andrew Simon at 7:21 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home