Inquiry begins into UK involvement in Iraq War

A long-awaited official inquiry into Britain's involvement in the Iraq War will begin today, taking evidence in public.

Three senior officials from Britain's Foreign Office and the Ministry of Defence will be the first witnesses as the televised proceedings start by examining the policies which led to invasion of 2003.

They will be followed over the coming weeks by a succession of diplomats, military officers and politicians, including former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is expected to appear early in the new year.

The final withdrawal of the last main body of British troops from Iraq earlier this year cleared the way for Gordon Brown to appoint the inquiry his predecessor had for so long resisted.

The five-strong inquiry team, headed by retired John Chilcot, has been given a wide-ranging remit covering the period from the lead-up to war from 2001 to the present day.

Much of the attention will, however, focus on the original decision to go to war and whether it was legal in terms of international law.

Chilcot has said that while the inquiry will not shrink from criticism if it believes it is justified, it is not a court of law handing down a verdict of “legal or illegal”.

Instead he said it would aim to produce a “full and insightful” account of the decision-making process which took Britain to war.

Other issues that are expected to feature prominently in what is intended be a “lessons-learned” inquiry are the availability of resources – manpower and material – and the treatment of the wounded and bereaved.

The inquiry members have already been working their way through what Chilcot has described as an “absolute mountain range” of documentary evidence.

He has warned that the sheer volume of written material means that it will be very difficult for any witness to pull wool over the eyes of his team as it has already established the “factual underpinnings” of what happened.

The first witnesses today will be Peter Ricketts, who was chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) in 2001, Simon Webb, who was policy director at the MoD, and William Patey who was head of the Middle East Department at the Foreign Office.

Michael Wood, who was legal adviser at the Foreign Office, will give evidence later in the day.