| Iraq inquiry turns to WMD claim |
| 25 November 2009 | 09:46
| Source:
BBC |
LONDON --
The UK government's claim that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction is to be probed later by the official inquiry into the war.
On its second day of hearings in London, the Iraq inquiry will question former senior Foreign Office staff Tim Dowse and William Ehrman.
They will discuss the intelligence available to ministers on Iraq's weapons prior to the US-led invasion.
The inquiry is not expected to report its full findings until 2011.
The reasons for going to war in Iraq - including the now discredited claim that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction which could be used within 45 minutes of an order being given - are a long-standing source of controversy.
The inquiry, looking at the whole period from 2001 to 2009, was set up by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who also chose the panel.
The stated aim of the early hearings is to look at a "wide range" of factors leading up to war, including intelligence and diplomacy.
Dowse was the Foreign Office's head of counter-proliferation from 2001 to 2003.
Ehrman was the department's director of international security from 2000 to 2002 and its director general of defence and intelligence from 2002 to 2004.
On Tuesday, the inquiry heard that the UK government had "distanced itself" from talk of removing Saddam Hussein in early 2001 despite concerns about his threat.
Sir Peter Ricketts, a top intelligence official at the time, said it was assumed it was not "our policy" despite growing talk in the US about the move.
Relatives of some of the 179 UK service personnel killed in Iraq gathered outside the venue in central London where the hearings are being held, as did a number of anti-war protesters.
The inquiry is likely to take more than a year, with Mr Brown and predecessor Tony Blair expected to be among future witnesses.
Previously, the Butler inquiry looked at intelligence failures before the war, while the Hutton inquiry examined the circumstances leading to the death of former government adviser David Kelly.
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