Chilcot under pressure to release Iraq report

Iraq Inquiry Chairman Sir John Chilcot has come under growing pressure to to set a timetable for publication of the long-awaited report into the war.

The inquiry began in 2009. It has already cost about £10m.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron said on Friday that the report publication is good for the country. Back in January, Cameron had urged Chilcot to publish the report before the May election.

Earlier, the Daily Telegraph wrote that Chilcot is preparing to tell the families of the soldiers killed that he understands the anguish they are suffering.

According to the daily, the main theme of the inquiry is “whether former Prime Minister Tony Blair gave a commitment backing military action to the then US president, George W Bush, much earlier than he has admitted.”

The Guardian wrote :”Publication of the report was initially held up by a refusal of senior British civil servants to hand over minutes of conversations between Blair and Bush. Further delays have followed as Chilcot gave witnesses criticised in the report an opportunity to reply.”

Blair’s former attorney general Lord Morris of Aberavon told recently the state-funded BBC:“It’s parliament ultimately that is the guardian of independence, if an inquiry of this kind shows no sign of resolving itself.”

Meanwhile, Former Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Menzies Campbell said the Iraq Inquiry should give a general indication of when it is likely to publish the report.

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