London, November 23: An independent inquiry into Britain's role in the war in Iraq begins public hearings on Tuesday that will culminate in the eagerly-awaited testimony from former prime minister Tony Blair.
Military chiefs, diplomats, ministers and senior officials will all be called before the five-member committee as it looks into what lessons can be learned from the controversial war.
The inquiry committee's chairman, former civil servant John Chilcot, said Monday he was confident of producing a "full and insightful" account of the decision-making process which took Britain into the conflict.
"Our determination is to do not merely a thorough job but one that is frank and will bear public scrutiny," he told the BBC.
"All five members of the committee are now completely independent from different perspectives and bodies of experience," he added.
John Scarlett, the former head of foreign intelligence service MI6, and one-time ambassadors to the United States, Christopher Meyer, and to the United Nations, Jeremy Greenstock, will be among the first to give evidence.
Scarlett was chairman of Britain's main intelligence committee when Blair's government produced a dossier outlining how Iraq had weapons of mass destruction -- a principal justification for the US-led invasion on March 2003.
The weapons were never found. Why ministers thought they existed -- and where they obtained their evidence -- will be addressed by the committee.
Former UN secretary general Kofi Annan and former UN weapons inspector Hans Blix are also reportedly on the list of witnesses.
However, Blair's evidence is likely to be the highlight of the Iraq Inquiry, which will be held in public except where national security is a concern. The inquiry covers the period from July 2001 to July 2009.
Blair's decision to back US president George W.
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