Fed: Iraq weapons inquiry must be public - Bartlett

AAP General News (Australia)
02-12-2004
Fed: Iraq weapons inquiry must be public - Bartlett

CANBERRA, Feb 12 AAP - An independent inquiry into Australia's prewar knowledge of
Iraqi weapons should be held in public, Australian Democrats Leader Andrew Bartlett said
today.

The federal government is likely to hold an independent inquiry but not in public as
the British and United States governments had done, The Australian newspaper said.

"Of course it should be an open process," Senator Bartlett told reporters.

"That's the whole problem - everything has been behind closed doors.

"Even the parliamentary inquiry we had, not only was it government controlled, but
evidence provided by the intelligence agencies themselves was in secret and vetted.

"An independent inquiry into pre-Iraq war intelligence is desperately needed.

"The Democrats have been calling for it for many, many months and we'd certainly welcome that.

"We'd just want to see exactly what the detail is because the prime minister has shown,
particularly on this issue, he can't be trusted."

The head of a key parliamentary committee said today that speculation of an independent
inquiry into Australia's spy agencies' handling of pre-war intelligence on Iraq was premature.

David Jull, the Liberal chairman of the parliamentary intelligence committee, said
his committee would hand down its findings of its long review of Australia's spy agencies
on March 1.

AAP rmg/cjh/jlw

KEYWORD: IRAQ WMD BARTLETT

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