The Hindu Business Line : Chance to come clean

BOTH the US President, Mr George Bush, and the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, yielding to the mounting pressure from within their own parties, not to mention their powerful political rivals and the restive public at large, have been forced to appoint committees to inquire into the working of the intelligence agencies in the run-up to the Iraq war. The exact composition of the body in the US is yet to be settled, although indications are that it will be bipartisan and high-powered like the Commission headed by Chief Justice Earl Warren to go into the circumstances of President John Kennedy's assassination.

As regards the UK, some media reports are sceptical about the degree of independence that would be brought to bear on his task by Lord Butler who has been tipped as the chairman of the committee, as he is a former Cabinet Secretary with a predisposition to toe the official line. In order to enhance the committee's credibility and public standing, the Government should take care to associate with it heavyweights from major parties and reputed think tank professionals.

The funniest part is that both inquiries are unlikely to bring to light anything that Messrs Bush and Blair, and their close advisers, and the intelligence agencies have not known already in their heart of hearts. Mr Bush grandiloquently says that he also, like the American people, wants to know the facts. Why does he not ask himself, Mr Dick Cheney, the Vice-President, Mr Donald Rumsfeld, the Defence Secretary, or Mr George Tenet, the CIA Director, and save all the time and expense on the inquiry? In fact, Mr Tenet is said to be planning to "correct some of the misperceptions and downright inaccuracies concerning what the intelligence community reported and did not report regarding Iraq." We will have to wait and see whether it would be anything more than the usual waffling.

Similar is the case with Mr Blair. He does not need any inquiry to know whether intelligence regarding Iraq was "sexed up" or manipulated by himself or by his confidant, Mr Alastair Campbell, or by any of those in his office, to provide excuses to attack Iraq and topple Saddam Hussein.

The question is not whether the ruling top political bosses in both countries pressured the intelligence agencies to do their bidding. Most governments with axes to grind do. What is the most disturbing is the common perception that the intelligence communities, renowned for their professional integrity, in countries hectoring to the world about democracy and ethical governance, succumbed to such pressures. The only way for them to rehabilitate themselves in public esteem is to come clean without holding back anything. This is a chance they should not let go.