Britain to Investigate Role in Iraq

By JOHN F. BURNS
NYT

LONDON — After years of delay, the British government said Monday it would go ahead with an inquiry into the country’s role in the Iraq war, an issue that has been deeply divisive ever since the former prime minister, Tony Blair, committed more than 40,000 troops to the invasion in 2003.

Britain’s combat role ended in April, and the last British troops are scheduled to withdraw from their base at the southern city of Basra by July 30, their role taken over by American troops. Prime Minister Gordon Brown, under pressure for an inquiry from his own Labor party and from the opposition Conservatives, has long insisted that the British role in the war should be ended first.

Mr. Brown was scheduled to make a statement on the inquiry in the House of Commons on Monday afternoon, but the decision to go ahead was confirmed by Michael Ellam, his spokesman at 10 Downing Street. Key issues to be settled by the prime minister include whether the inquiry will be held in public or in private, and whether it will review the political decisions that led to war, as well as the conduct of military operations.

Few issues in Britain have been as contentious in the past generation as the decision to join the United States in the 2003 invasion. The commitment took on the character of a personal mission for Mr. Blair, who prevailed over a divided cabinet and Britain’s largest street protests in decades in forging the war coalition with former American president, George W. Bush.

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