Given what we know already from leaks, the secrecy surrounding the Chilcot Iraq inquiry is as absurd as it is scandalous.

There really is no legitimate reason now for any of the inquiry into the invasion of Iraq to be held in private. Extremely sensitive information, intelligence material in particular, has already been disclosed, either here or in the US, by official inquiries or leaks.

The reason why the government wants it to be held behind closed doors - a weapon allowing Whitehall to control proceedings - is to enable it to protect itself, and individuals, from embarrassment. To drive home the point, the members of the inquiry, led by Sir John Chilcot, the epitome of a Whitehall mandarin, will be made privy counsellors, told to swear an ancient oath of secrecy.

We already know a great deal about how the Iraqi banned weapons dossier was manipulated by Whitehall officials and intelligence chiefs, at the behest of their political masters - most notably, Tony Blair. We know from a leaked Dowing Street memo, marked " secret and strictly personal - UK eyes only", that, at a meeting Blair chaired on 23 July 2002, nearly a year before the invasion, Sir Richard Dearlove, then head of MI6, warned that in Washington "the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy"; and Jack Straw, then foreign secretary, said "it seemed clear that Bush had made up his mind to take military action ... But the case was thin."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jun/15/iraq-gordon-brown

meanwhile .....

Tony Blair is set to be quizzed as part of an inquiry into the Iraq War announced by his successor Gordon Brown.

The former Prime Minister, who led Britain to war, said that if asked he would 'of course' appear before the panel.

But Mr Brown has been accused of an 'Establishment stitch-up' after announcing the inquiry will meet in secret and blame no one.

It will also have no legal powers to demand documents, compel anyone to attend or require witnesses to swear an oath. 

And since it will take at least a year to conduct, the findings will come out safely beyond the date of the next General Election.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1193167/Transparency-What-joke-Iraq-war-inquiry-sit-secret-power-apportion-blame--oh-yes-wont-report-election.html