BROWN'S FORCED INTO U-TURN ON IRAQ PROBE; MEN WHO HELPED CHANGE HIS MIND.Byline: BOB ROBERTS GORDON Brown backed down over plans for a secret Iraq war Iraq War: see under Persian Gulf Wars. Iraq War or Second Persian Gulf War Brief conflict in 2003 between Iraq and a combined force of troops largely from the U.S. and Great Britain; and a subsequent U.S. inquiry yesterday after senior politicians and military top brass condemned it. Three days after the PM said the probe would be behind closed doors, he wrote that he wanted "open sessions" to encourage "full public confidence" in the process. His climbdown came as fears grew it could be seen as a cover-up. Former PM Sir John Major warned: "The decision to hold the inquiry in private is inexplicable. It risks being denounced as a whitewash whitewash, white fluid commonly used as an inexpensive, impermanent coating for walls, fences, stables, and other exterior structures. It varies in composition, being generally a mixture of lime (quicklime), water, flour, salt, glue, and whiting, with other ." Lord Butler of Brockwell, head of the 2004 inquiry into Iraq's supposed weapons of mass destruction Weapons that are capable of a high order of destruction and/or of being used in such a manner as to destroy large numbers of people. Weapons of mass destruction can be high explosives or nuclear, biological, chemical, and radiological weapons, but exclude the means of transporting or , added: "An inquiry entirely in private has no prospect of purging national feelings of mistrust." Former head of the Army, General Sir Mike Jackson, had also sided with outraged bereaved families demanding a public hearing. Sir Mike said he would "have no problem giving evidence in public". An inquiry behind closed doors would help feed "the climate of suspicion and scepticism", he said. Sir Mike added: "They have to look at the intelligence that Blair used... which turned out to be fool's gold fool's gold: see pyrite. ." Mr Brown's call for transparency yesterday - which will also appease rebel MPs and anti-war campaigners - was revealed in a letter to inquiry chairman Sir John Chilcot. No10 said Sir John would be allowed to decide how to proceed. Tory William Hague said: "To be credible, it needs to be in public."'The decision to hold inquiry in private means it look like whitewash''I would have no problem at all in giving my evidence in public''A private inquiry has no prospect of ever purging feelings of mistrust' CAPTION(S): EXPOSED Mirror on PM's plan FORMER PREMIER SIR JOHN MAJOR ARMY GENERAL SIR MIKE JACKSON INQUIRY CHIEF LORD BUTLER |
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