The long-awaited Iraq inquiry
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WAR IN IRAQ: THE INQUIRY
By Vincent Moss 07/06/2009
After 2,270 days & 100,000 deaths..
Gordon Brown is to announce a long-awaited inquiry into the Iraq War.
The PM will tell MPs later this month that the independent inquiry will help provide the answers demanded by relatives of the 178 British soldiers killed since the 2003 invasion. More than 100,000 Iraqis have also died.
The inquiry will also ease some of the simmering anger about Mr Brown's leadership among Labour backbench MPs.
They have been calling for a full public inquiry and demanding that all evidence is taken in public.
Mr Brown decided to wait until the withdrawal of the main contingent of British troops from Iraq was complete before announcing the inquiry.
Last night a senior Government source said: "Details of the inquiry will be disclosed later this month.
"We have always said the time to focus on an official inquiry is when our troops are home safely and we have very nearly reached that point.
MPs want the inquiry to be similar to the Franks Inquiry into the Falklands War.
The Iraq inquiry would focus on the failure to discover any of Tony Blair's infamous weapons of mass destruction and why some troops were not properly equipped. Critics have accused the Government of trying to delay the start of the inquiry so its findings would not be published until after the general election.
In March, Foreign Secretary David Miliband provoked controversy by indicating some evidence would be heard behind closed doors.
The UK currently has about 500 military personnel in Iraq while just under 200 soldiers at Basra airport are in the process of packing up the base for the return.
Up to 100 sailors are training Iraqis at the port of Umm Qasr and will stay for up to a year.
Nuke Vets' Victory: Pages 16&17
IRAQ DEATHS
Brits.........178
Coalition..4,451
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/06/07/
war-in-iraq-the-inquiry-115875-21421021/
WAR IN IRAQ: THE INQUIRY
By Vincent Moss 07/06/2009
After 2,270 days & 100,000 deaths..
Gordon Brown is to announce a long-awaited inquiry into the Iraq War.
The PM will tell MPs later this month that the independent inquiry will help provide the answers demanded by relatives of the 178 British soldiers killed since the 2003 invasion. More than 100,000 Iraqis have also died.
The inquiry will also ease some of the simmering anger about Mr Brown's leadership among Labour backbench MPs.
They have been calling for a full public inquiry and demanding that all evidence is taken in public.
Mr Brown decided to wait until the withdrawal of the main contingent of British troops from Iraq was complete before announcing the inquiry.
Last night a senior Government source said: "Details of the inquiry will be disclosed later this month.
"We have always said the time to focus on an official inquiry is when our troops are home safely and we have very nearly reached that point.
MPs want the inquiry to be similar to the Franks Inquiry into the Falklands War.
The Iraq inquiry would focus on the failure to discover any of Tony Blair's infamous weapons of mass destruction and why some troops were not properly equipped. Critics have accused the Government of trying to delay the start of the inquiry so its findings would not be published until after the general election.
In March, Foreign Secretary David Miliband provoked controversy by indicating some evidence would be heard behind closed doors.
The UK currently has about 500 military personnel in Iraq while just under 200 soldiers at Basra airport are in the process of packing up the base for the return.
Up to 100 sailors are training Iraqis at the port of Umm Qasr and will stay for up to a year.
Nuke Vets' Victory: Pages 16&17
IRAQ DEATHS
Brits.........178
Coalition..4,451
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/06/07/
war-in-iraq-the-inquiry-115875-21421021/
posted by Andrew Simon at 11:03 AM
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