CAIRO – A British public inquiry into the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq starts Tuesday, November 24, amid growing doubts about its competence, reported The Independent. "Our determination is to do not merely a thorough job but one that is frank and will bear public scrutiny,” the Iraq Inquiry head, Sir John Chiclot, said.
Chiclot leads a five-member committee to investigate the causes that led the British involvement in the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.
The committee’s first session on Tuesday discusses the British foreign policy on Iraq in the run-up to the invasion.
It will hear from a number of British officials, including Sir Peter Ricketts, who was the chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) - which oversees MI5, MI6 and Government Communications Headquarters - from 2000 to 2001.
William Patey, head of the Foreign Office’s Middle East Department in 1999-02; Simon Webb, head of operational policy at the Ministry of Defense in 1999-2001 and MoD policy advisor in 2001-04; and Michael Wood, Foreign Office’s legal advisor in 1999-06, will also give evidence.
Former British prime minister Tony Blair is also on the list to testify before the committee.
A final report by the committee is expected by the end of the next year.
Without UN authorization, Britain joined the US in March 2003 in invading Iraq to topple the Saddam Hussein regime on claims of stockpiling weapons of mass destruction.
More than six years after the invasion, no trace of WMDs has been found.
A total of 179 British soldiers have been killed in Iraq since the 2003 invasion.
There have already been two official probes into elements of the Iraq war.
The Hutton inquiry, which reported in 2004, looked at the suicide of David Kelly, a government scientist who killed himself after being named as the possible source of a BBC report claiming the government "sexed up" a dossier on Iraq's military capability.
Meanwhile the Butler inquiry, which reported the same year, highlighted failings in intelligence over whether Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.
Incompetence
But the committee’s competence is being questioned over the absence of judges and lawyers in its membership.
"The panel clearly lacks the expertise to address the question of legality,” a senior legal figure told the Guardian.
“The members are not experienced at cross-examination – it is simply not their skill set."
A senior judge agrees, saying the committee members are incapable of analyzing the war legality.
"The truth of the matter is, if the inquiry was going to express a view with any kind of authority on the question of legality, it would need a legal member and quite a senior one," he said.
"Looking at the membership … it seems to me that legality just wasn't going to be a question they would be asked to review."
The lack of legal experience in the committee raises questions about whether the government, which established the inquiry, is willing to seriously look into the war legality.
"Some of the debates around the legality of the war are quite sophisticated – it is not all clear-cut," said the senior legal figure.
"It's going to be very difficult to deal with someone like Blair without a panel experienced in cross-examination.”
The senior judge also doubted the government’s willingness.
"Looking into the legality of the war is the last thing the government wants," he said.
"And actually, it's the last thing the opposition wants either because they voted for the war.
“There simply is not the political pressure to explore the question of legality – they have not asked because they don't want the answer."
Source: IslamOnline
Chiclot leads a five-member committee to investigate the causes that led the British involvement in the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.
The committee’s first session on Tuesday discusses the British foreign policy on Iraq in the run-up to the invasion.
It will hear from a number of British officials, including Sir Peter Ricketts, who was the chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) - which oversees MI5, MI6 and Government Communications Headquarters - from 2000 to 2001.
William Patey, head of the Foreign Office’s Middle East Department in 1999-02; Simon Webb, head of operational policy at the Ministry of Defense in 1999-2001 and MoD policy advisor in 2001-04; and Michael Wood, Foreign Office’s legal advisor in 1999-06, will also give evidence.
Former British prime minister Tony Blair is also on the list to testify before the committee.
A final report by the committee is expected by the end of the next year.
Without UN authorization, Britain joined the US in March 2003 in invading Iraq to topple the Saddam Hussein regime on claims of stockpiling weapons of mass destruction.
More than six years after the invasion, no trace of WMDs has been found.
A total of 179 British soldiers have been killed in Iraq since the 2003 invasion.
There have already been two official probes into elements of the Iraq war.
The Hutton inquiry, which reported in 2004, looked at the suicide of David Kelly, a government scientist who killed himself after being named as the possible source of a BBC report claiming the government "sexed up" a dossier on Iraq's military capability.
Meanwhile the Butler inquiry, which reported the same year, highlighted failings in intelligence over whether Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.
Incompetence
But the committee’s competence is being questioned over the absence of judges and lawyers in its membership.
"The panel clearly lacks the expertise to address the question of legality,” a senior legal figure told the Guardian.
“The members are not experienced at cross-examination – it is simply not their skill set."
A senior judge agrees, saying the committee members are incapable of analyzing the war legality.
"The truth of the matter is, if the inquiry was going to express a view with any kind of authority on the question of legality, it would need a legal member and quite a senior one," he said.
"Looking at the membership … it seems to me that legality just wasn't going to be a question they would be asked to review."
The lack of legal experience in the committee raises questions about whether the government, which established the inquiry, is willing to seriously look into the war legality.
"Some of the debates around the legality of the war are quite sophisticated – it is not all clear-cut," said the senior legal figure.
"It's going to be very difficult to deal with someone like Blair without a panel experienced in cross-examination.”
The senior judge also doubted the government’s willingness.
"Looking into the legality of the war is the last thing the government wants," he said.
"And actually, it's the last thing the opposition wants either because they voted for the war.
“There simply is not the political pressure to explore the question of legality – they have not asked because they don't want the answer."
Source: IslamOnline
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