Frustration in UK over 2016 date for Iraq war report

A long-awaited report into the UK's role in the controversial US-led invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq in 2003 will not be ready for publication until the summer of 2016, the chair of the public inquiry has said.

Writing to David Cameron, the British prime minister, in a letter published on Thursday, John Chilcot said he was "in a position to set out a timetable for completion of the Iraq Inquiry's report" and expected to complete the two million-word report by mid-April.

Following "national security checking" and preparations for "printing and publication" he said he hoped a date for release could be agreed in June or July 2016.

"My colleagues and I remain committed to producing a report that will meet the very wide ranging terms of reference we were given and reflect the considerable investment of time and effort by all involved," he wrote.

The long wait for Chilcot, a former civil servant, to publish the results of his inquiry has angered many critics of the UK's involvement in Iraq and families of British soldiers killed in the conflict amid expectations that the report will shed light on the close relationship between Tony Blair, the then-British prime minister, and US President George W. Bush in the buildup to the war.

A White House memo written in 2002 and published earlier this month by the Mail on Sunday newspaper appeared to confirm long-held suspicions among opponents of the war that Blair had committed British forces to supporting a US-led invasion even at a time when he publicly said he was still pursuing a diplomatic resolution.

Replying to Chilcot on Thursday, Cameron expressed disappointment at the length of time he expected it would take to complete his work, and suggested that the process of national security checking could be completed in two weeks.

"I am disappointed – and I know the families of those who served in Iraq will also be disappointed – that you do not believe it will be possible logistically to publish your report until early summer," he wrote.

"I recognise that you have a significant task, but would welcome any further steps you can take to expedite the final stages of the inquiry."

Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the opposition Labour Party, said: "We need to know what happened, we need to know why it happened, we need to know who made the decisions and we never need to make these kind of catastrophic mistakes again."

The Iraq inquiry was set up in 2009 by then-prime minister Gordon Brown and was originally expected to report within a year. But the inquiry's findings have reportedly been delayed due to a process that allows those expected to face criticism to respond before publication.

Relatives of some of the 179 British service personnel killed in the conflict said they were disappointed by Thursday's announcements.

"We thought it should be out a lot sooner than this," said Rose Gentle, whose son Gordon, 19, was killed in a bomb attack in Basra in 2004. "It's another let-down. It's another few months to wait and suffer again."

Reg Keys, father of Lance Corporal Tom Keys, who was killed in 2003, told the BBC he felt "a certain amount of anger because I just think this delay has gone on just far too long now".

Blair was considered a key ally to Bush in the run-up to the invasion and argued that the war was necessary because Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had acquired chemical and biological weapons.

But no weapons were ever discovered, and the case for war presented by Colin Powell, the then-US Secretary of State, at the United Nations, and by Blair to the British parliament, was subsequently found to have been built on flawed intelligence.

In a television interview last weekend, Blair apologised for intelligence failings and conceded that the invasion and subsequent chaos in Iraq had in part contributed to the eventual emergence of the Islamic State (IS) group.

“I apologise for the fact that the intelligence we received was wrong,” he told CNN. “I also apologise for some of the mistakes in planning and, certainly, our mistake in our understanding of what would happen once you removed the regime.”

But he added: "But I find it hard to apologise for removing Saddam. I think, even from today in 2015, it is better that he’s not there.”

Critics accused Blair of attempting to pre-empt likely criticism of his conduct by Chilcot.  

Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland's first minister and the leader of the Scottish Nationalist Party, which opposed the war, wrote on Twitter: “The Blair spin operation begins, but the country still awaits the truth. The delay to Chilcot report is a scandal.”