London, December 19: The head of Britain’s public inquiry into the Iraq war defended his probe Thursday against claims it had been too soft on witnesses — and pledged to hold ex premier Tony Blair to account in public.
In a statement before suspending hearings for Christmas, former senior civil servant John Chilcot said that his inquiry was “not here to provide public sport or entertainment” and was instead focused on getting at facts.
“We have not been trying to ambush witnesses or score points,” he said in a closing statement after just over three weeks of hearings.
“But this is a serious inquiry. We are not here to provide public sport or entertainment. The whole point of our approach has been to get to the facts. We ask fair questions and we expect full and truthful answers.”
The inquiry has faced some criticism for allegedly failing to ask tough questions of witnesses and not releasing some classified documents.
Chilcot also committed to hold “evidence sessions with key decision makers, including the former prime minister” in public. “They will be openly questioned about the big issues that they were involved in,” he added.
A reminder of how much media and public interest there is likely to be in Blair’s evidence came at the end of last week.
Then, he said that he believed it would have been right to invade Iraq even had he known at the time that no weapons of mass destruction would be found there.
This was a key argument used in favour of the war at the time. Blair is expected to give evidence in January or February along with other ministers in office at the time.
Chilcot also said there would be no public hearings during a general election campaign.
Britain is due to go to the polls by June next year and this measure would be designed to remove any risk that the probe’s findings would unduly sway the results.
The inquiry, Britain’s third related to the conflict, has so far heard from 38 witnesses. It is due to report by the end of 2010.
—Agencies