The long-awaited Iraq war inquiry is to begin its public hearings later, with top civil servants and a former spy chief giving evidence on the origins of the conflict.
The inquiry, which will cover the period from 2001 to 2009, is expected to last months, with a report not due to be published until after the next general election.
The first witnesses will be Sir Peter Ricketts, the former chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC), Simon Webb, who was policy director at the Ministry of Defence and Sir William Patey, the former head of the Middle East department.
Former prime minister Tony Blair is expected to appear before the committee early next year.
The chairman of the inquiry, retired Whitehall mandarin Sir John Chilcot, has promised that it will not be a "whitewash" and will provide a "full and insightful" account of how Britain was taken to war.
He has emphasised that the inquiry will not rule on the legality of the war, instead assessing the quality of the decision-making.
He said: "It is much closer to high policy decisions - was this a wise decision? Was it well-taken? Was it founded on good advice and good information and analysis?"
As well as Chilcot the five-strong inquiry panel also includes Sir Martin Gilbert, a senior military historian; Sir Roderick Lyne, the former British ambassador to Moscow; Sir Lawrence Freedman, Professor of War Studies at King's College London and the crossbench peer Baroness Usha Prashar.
Chilcot has said he hopes to complete his final report by the end of next year but has warned that time constraints could push its publication into 2011.
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