Brown’s Iraq inquiry hit by claims of cover-up

BRITISH Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced an independent inquiry into the Iraq war yesterday but faced claims of a cover-up after saying it would take evidence in private.

Six years after Tony Blair controversially backed the US-led invasion, Brown said the “unprecedented” inquiry would cover the eight years from the campaign’s run-up to the pullout of British troops next month.

But he said it would be held in private for “national security” reasons, infuriating many lawmakers and anti-war campaigners outside the House of Commons.

“A secret inquiry conducted by a clutch of grandees hand-picked by the prime minister is not what Britain needs,” said Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal Democrats.

The inquiry will examine the circumstances leading up to the decision under Blair to support then US president George W Bush in the March 2003 invasion to topple Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, and its aftermath.

Brown has long promised a probe into the war after all but a handful of Britain’s 4,100 troops withdraw from Iraq by July 31.

“I’m today announcing the establishment of an independent privy councillor committee of inquiry,” Brown told the House of Commons. “[It] will have access to the fullest range of information, including secret information.”

He said evidence would be taken in private for “national security reasons”, adding: “In this way, also evidence given by serving and former ministers, military officers and officials will, I believe, be as full and candid as possible”.

The probe is likely to begin after lawmakers return from summer recess in October and it will take around a year to complete.

The announcement followed a You Gov/Sunday Times poll this week which gave Labour 24% support compared with 40% for the Conservatives led by David Cameron.

Cameron accused Brown of deliberately delaying publication of the findings on Iraq until after the next general election to avoid any “inconvenient conclusions”.

The government said it would veto publication of minutes from ministerial discussions about the legality of the invasion. There have already been two probes related to the Iraq war.

The Hutton inquiry, reporting in 2004, looked at the suicide of David Kelly, a government scientist named as the possible BBC source claiming the government “sexed up” a dossier on Iraq’s military capability.

The Butler inquiry, the same year, highlighted failings in intelligence over whether Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.