The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
1.
On 15 June
2009, Mr Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, told the House of
Commons:
“With the
last British combat troops about to return home from Iraq, now is
the right
time to
ensure that we have a proper process in place to enable us to learn
the
lessons of
the complex and often controversial events of the last six years. I
am
today
announcing the establishment of an independent Privy Counsellor
committee
of inquiry
which will consider the period from summer 2001, before
military
operations
began in March 2003, and our subsequent involvement in Iraq right
up
to the end
of July this year. The Inquiry is essential because it will ensure
that, by
learning
lessons, we strengthen the health of our democracy, our diplomacy
and
2.
Addressing the
scope of the Inquiry, Mr Brown said:
“No Inquiry
has looked at such a long period, and no Inquiry has the powers to
look
in so much
breadth … the Iraq Inquiry will look at the run-up to conflict, the
conflict
itself and
the reconstruction, so that we can learn lessons in each and every
area.”
3.
In his
statement, Mr Brown announced that the Inquiry Committee would be
made up
of
“non-partisan public figures acknowledged to be experts and leaders
in their fields”.
It would be
chaired by Sir John Chilcot and would include Baroness Usha
Prashar,
Sir Roderic
Lyne, Sir Lawrence Freedman and Sir Martin Gilbert. Their
biographies can
be found on
the Inquiry’s website. It is a matter of deep regret that Sir
Martin was taken
ill in
April 2012 and was unable thereafter to participate in the
Inquiry’s work. Sir Martin
died on 3
February 2015.
4.
Prior to 2009,
some specific aspects of the UK’s involvement in Iraq had already
been
examined:
•
The House
of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee published The
Decision to
go to War in
Iraq on 3 July
2003.
•
The
Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament published
Iraqi
Weapons
of Mass
Destruction – Intelligence and Assessments on 10
September 2003.
•
Lord Hutton
published his Report of
the Inquiry into the Circumstances
Surrounding
the Death of Dr David Kelly CMG on 28 January
2004.
•
A Committee
of Privy Counsellors, chaired by Lord Butler of
Brockwell,
published
its Review of
Intelligence on Weapons of Mass Destruction on
14 July
2004. Sir John Chilcot was a member of Lord Butler’s
Committee.
1
House of
Commons, Official
Report, 15 June
2009, columns 23-24.
2