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Former Prime Minister Tony Blair will be called to testify to a panel investigating Britain\'s involvement in the Iraq war.
The five-member panel, which also includes eminent historian Martin Gilbert, will examine the decisions taken by the British government and look at the legality of the war, Head of the inquiry John Chilcot said promising a thorough and independent probe.
The inquiry, ordered by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, would look at the run-up to the 2003 invasion, the war and its aftermath, Chilcot added.
\"If we find that people fell short in their duty, made mistakes or acted wrongly, we shall most certainly say so and say so clearly,\" he told a news conference.
Asked how the inquiry would avoid suspicions it was a \"whitewash,\" Chilcot said the panel would do the job \"as thoroughly, as fairly, as independently as we can.\"
Head of the inquiry affirmed that investigation would last until late next year, at the earliest. That means that its conclusions, which could be politically damaging to the Labor government, will not be published before a national election due by next June, he noted.
Asked if the panel might talk to former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, who also sent troops to Iraq, he did not rule out discussions with \"key international figures\" in the U.S.-led coalition. But he said the panel could not force people to appear and witnesses would not testify under oath
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