Iraq Inquiry could finally be published this year, after deal reached on release of documents

[smurfy]

[img]http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/75118000/jpg/_75118925_blairbush.jpg[/img]

[url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-27625117[/url]
[quote]Details of the "gist" of talks between Tony Blair and George Bush ahead of the Iraq war are to be published, the UK's Chilcot inquiry says.

But transcripts and full notes of conversations will remain secret at the request of the government.

The agreement between the inquiry and Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood could clear the way for the report to be published later this year.

It is thought to have been delayed by wrangling over what could be released.

The inquiry has been given access to full records of talks between the two leaders in the run-up to war but is being prevented by the government from publishing them in its final report, even after offering to block-out sensitive parts.

The UK government's grounds for refusing the request to publish the full documents and transcripts is that it could prejudice future relations between the two countries.

The inquiry has instead been granted permission to "disclose quotes or gists of the content" to help explain its conclusions, inquiry chairman Sir John Chilcot explained in a letter to Sir Jeremy.[/quote]

[Kondor]

what's the point in an inquiry if they're allowed to withhold as much information as they want?

[smurfy]

[QUOTE=Kondor;44943771]what's the point in an inquiry if they're allowed to withhold as much information as they want?[/QUOTE]

The inquiry has seen it all, they're just not allowed to publish all of it