Gordon Brown to unveil Iraq war probe ‘within days’
June 8th, 2009 - 3:12 pm ICT by ANI
London, June 8 (ANI): British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will announce an official inquiry report into the Iraq war “within days”.
Brown’s decision comes in the wake of the recent departure of the last British troops from Iraq.
The troops left their base outside Basra more than six years after the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein was toppled.
The announcement of the new probe is expected to be welcomed by many Labour MPs.
However, critics may see the inquiry as a sop to the party’s grassroots during its rough period.
Brown has asked Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O’Donnell to draw up advice on the scope and timing of the inquiry, The Sun reports.
Sir Gus has also been asked to look at who would carry out the probe.
According to Downing Street sources, Brown had never been opposed to holding an inquiry in principle.
“It was always a question of when, not if. The PM’s view was that it would not be appropriate to have an inquiry when large numbers of our troops were still in Iraq,” an insider said. (ANI)
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