Iraq inquiry: Chilcot defends questioning
Updated on 17 December 2009
Sir John Chilcot defend his conduct of the Iraq war inquiry, saying it is a serious search for facts and the truth and not an attempt to ambush any participants.
He has only been sitting for 23 days, but the chairman of the Iraq war inquiry has already issued a defence of the proceedings - following criticism that he and his team have been too soft on some of the people they have questioned.
In a statement before breaking for Christmas, Sir John Chilcot said there had been "an exceptional level of openness" and Tony Blair would appear in public in the New Year.
The inquiry has heard from military and civilian officials involved in assessing intelligence and planning for the aftermath of the invasion in 2003.
The chairman said a huge amount of "valuable and illuminating evidence" had been uncovered in the investigation into Britain's involvement in the Iraq war.
"There is an exceptional level of openness. My colleagues and I remain committed to hearing as much of the evidence in public as possible," he said.
"Evidence will only be heard in private in the narrow circumstances we have set out in the protocols on our website.
"But I would like to be absolutely clear about this - evidence sessions with key decision-makers, including the former prime minister, will be in public.
"They will be openly questioned about the big issues that they were involved in."
The inquiry faced questions on Tuesday after the live video feed of a witness's testimony was halted for just over a minute for reasons of national security.
The footage of the hearings is broadcast live but with a one minute delay. Sir John has power the stop the broadcast temporarily if secret issues are discussed.
Sir Jeremy Greenstock, the former British ambassador to Washington, was giving evidence at the time of Tuesday's blackout.
So far the inquiry has heard from top British military and civilian officials who were involved in planning, carrying out and dealing with the aftermath of the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003.
Blair and other ministers are expected to evidence in January and February. Today Sir John said the public hearings would not be held during periods of campaigning for the general election as he did not want the inquiry to be used as "party politics".
The chairman also said the inquiry would begin making public classified government documents about the war early next year.
"As we move into the next phase of evidence-taking, where we will hear from ministers and the most senior civil servants and military officers, the inquiry will increasingly wish to draw on government records which are currently classified - in some cases highly classified - in its questioning," he said.
"Where we do, we will seek the necessary declassification of records in advance of the relevant public hearings, with a view to making the written records publicly available."
Sir John said the inquiry team remained hopeful that they would complete their report by the end of next year.
