Kim Sengupta and Michael Savage
London Independent
June 17, 2009
Military leaders, who have lost 179 personnel in Iraq, want their actions judged by the public, and intelligence officials say that politicians’ manipulation of intelligence should be thoroughly examined.
The pressure on No 10 mounted yesterday as the shadow Foreign Secretary, William Hague, tabled a Commons debate for next week demanding that inquiry evidence be heard in public. The Conservatives will be supported by rebelling Labour backbenchers and by Liberal Democrats, who could force another embarrassing parliamentary defeat on Mr Brown.
General Sir Mike Jackson, head of the Army during the Iraq invasion, said: "I would have no problem at all in giving my evidence in public." He said Mr Brown’s decision that the proceedings be held in private fed "the climate of suspicion and scepticism about government", adding that the Prime Minister ought to consider requiring witnesses to give evidence on oath.
"I do not see why it could not have gone for a halfway house with sessions in public and then having private hearings when it comes to intelligence," said General Jackson. "And they do have to look at the intelligence that Blair used in the run-up to the war… which at the end turned out to be fool’s gold.
[efoods]"They say they are modelling this on the Franks inquiry into the Falklands War. Well that was 30 years ago in a very different world. The main problem with a secret inquiry in the current climate of suspicion and scepticism about government is that people would think there is something to hide. And public perception at the moment is terribly important."
He added: "We are told that having a private inquiry will make people more candid. But none of the evidence will be given under oath and also the inquiry has no power of subpoena. These are things that should be looked at."
Air Marshal Sir John Walker, the former head of Defence Intelligence, said: "There is only one reason that the inquiry is being heard in private and that is to protect past and present members of this Government. There are 179 reasons why the military want the truth to be out on what happened over Iraq."
As a former deputy chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee, Sir John was asked for advice by members of the Defence Intelligence Service unhappy at the way the "dodgy dossier" on weapons of mass destruction was being put together. "We have worrying questions about how intelligence was ramped up to suit Tony Blair and his cronies and their reasoning for invasion," he said. "There is no reason why intelligence officials alone should have to carry the can for this. If there is anything particularly secret – and God knows there is precious little left secret over Iraq – then that can be heard in camera."
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