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 Lord Butler
The Butler Inquiry was set up to investigate the intelligence failures in the run up to war was published on 14 July 2004. The committee was headed by former cabinet secretary Lord Butler.
The inquiry was set up by Foreign Secretary Jack Straw on the 4 February 2004 after widespread concern about the reliability of pre-war intelligence which claimed Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.
The Report Conclusions
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Lord Butler's report was critical of the language used in the September dossier and exposed the weakness of some of the human (untried) sources used by the intelligence services. The committee's main conclusions were:
* Intelligence reports were 'seriously flawed'.
* The Attorney General changed his mind about the legality of war.
* John Scarlett, head of MI6 should not resign as Chief of the Secret Services.
* There needs to be a greater divide between intelligence assessors and government.
* The claims that Iraq tried to obtain Uranium from Niger was well founded - but this may have been for rocket material not to re-constitute a nuclear programme.
* The evidence for the 45 minute claim was very unclear and it should not have been included in the dossier.
* The dossier should not have been given the J.I.C public backing.
* The government did not deliberately distort the evidence of the pre-war intelligence.
Who was on the Inquiry panel?
Former cabinet secretary Lord Butler chaired a five-member committee. The panel included two MPs, but the Lib Dems did not take part - because the limited remit meant the investigation will not look specifically at the political judgements on the war. The Conservative's followed suit, but their MP remained on the panel in an independent capacity. The Inquiry panel members were:
Lord Butler.
Sir John Chilcot, a former civil servant in Northern Ireland.
Labour MP Ann Taylor.
Conservative MP Michael Mates.
Field Marshal Lord Inge, formerly Chief of the Defence Staff.
What did the Panel examine?
What were the 'terms of reference':
Firstly, what intelligence was available about the WMD and ‘countries of concern.’ e.g. Iran or North Korea, to see if problems that were encountered over Iraq might also occur elsewhere.
The second was to "investigate the accuracy of intelligence on Iraqi WMD up to March 2003." The inquiry had to "examine any discrepancies" between the pre-war intelligence and what has been found (or not found) since.
Thirdly, it has been asked to make recommendations about the future handling of intelligence on WMD in "countries of concern."
Why was the UK Inquiry set up?
The investigation was announced soon after the U.S congress ordered an investigation into possible abuse of intelligence information about alleged WMD in Iraq. The two U.S inquiries included televised public hearings.
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