Rows over Blair-Bush memos delay Iraq war inquiry report by year
THE man heading the Iraq war inquiry yesterday admitted he still did not know when it would publish its findings – six years after its first hearings.
And quizzed over why it has taken so long, Sir John Chilcot suggested wrangling over what he could publish from messages between Tony Blair and George Bush – the British PM and American president who masterminded the 2003 invasion – accounted for more than a year of delay.
He wanted his panel, which heard its last witness in 2011, to report as soon as possible.
But there was “no realistic prospect” of it doing so before May’s general election, he said.
Summoned to the Commons’ Foreign Affairs Committee to explain the hold-up, he insisted: “We have to maintain the principles by which we have operated throughout: fairness, thoroughness and impartiality.”
When Conservative MP Nadhim Zahawi said the uncertainty was “painful” for bereaved families, Sir John insisted he did not want to raise “false hopes” by setting out a timetable he did not then keep to. Compiling a “reliable account” of events had been a “massive task” and he had underestimated how long it would take to go through 150,000 government documents, he said.
There had also been “quite difficult exchanges” about publishing official papers.
For example, it took 13 months – until last September – to secure Whitehall agreement to publish most of Mr Blair’s memos to Mr Bush along with material relating to the leaders’ conversations.
That in turn delayed the contacting of up to 150 people criticised in the draft report to give them a chance to respond.
Sir John said he had no evidence that any of the individuals, including Mr Blair, were deliberately trying to drag out the process but warned he would give them only “a proper and reason- able” time to respond.
Mr Blair has denied any responsibility for the delay.
Once the responses were included, Sir John said his report will be finalised.
And he joked that he “tried very hard not to rue the day” in 2009 when he accepted then Labour PM Gordon Brown’s invitation to take the £790-a-day job. He denied that political sensitivities ahead of the election were a factor in the delay.
The report is expected to be more than a million words long, with 7,000 government documents published with it. The inquiry has so far cost taxpayers £9million.
Sir John announced that one of his inquiry colleagues, historian, official Churchill biographer and Holocaust expert Sir Martin Gilbert, died on Tuesday aged 78 after a long battle with cancer.
