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Iraq inquiry 'may be televised' Iraq inquiry 'may last into 2011'
(10 minutes later)
The Iraq inquiry will be as open as possible with hearings which may be televised or streamed on the internet, chairman Sir John Chilcot has said. The Iraq inquiry will be as open as possible with hearings televised and streamed online, its chairman has said.
Launching the inquiry, he confirmed former PM Tony Blair would be called, along with senior and junior officials. Launching the inquiry Sir John Chilcot said the amount of material submitted meant he thought it was unlikely to end until late 2010 at the earliest.
He said it should be "as open as possible" but some hearings would be held in private for national security reasons or to allow "more candour". He said the inquiry should be "as open as possible" but some hearings would be held in private for national security reasons or to allow "more candour".
He said an interim report, which could come before the election, was unlikely. Sir John confirmed Tony Blair would be among those called to give evidence.
He said he was determined not to allow the inquiry to be drawn out but said it was likely to take at least a year or 18 months.
Sir John said the inquiry's panel had already begun work, making the first requests for government documents, but he said it could take months to read through the "huge amount" of material and identify issues on which to focus.
Its "first priority" would be to hear from the families of British service personnel killed during the conflict, he said, along with veterans' groups and others affected.
All documents held by the British government and any British citizen could be called to give evidence, he said.
The inquiry panel came in with "open minds" and a determination to "review the evidence independently.
But asked if it would apportion blame, he said: "If we find on going through the evidence that we see ... that people fell short in their duty, made mistakes, acted wrongly, we shall most certainly say so and say so clearly."
He suggested that key figures - likely to include Tony Blair - would appear towards the end of the inquiry to ensure that they were asked the right questions.
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