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Iraq

My Lords, in the run-up to the invasion I argued consistently against it both in this House and in evidence to the Foreign Affairs Committee of the other place. Will the Minister give an assurance that the inquiry will look into the genuine considerations that led to the invasion of Iraq? It is widely believed that the main argument for invading Iraq was the presence of weapons of mass destruction, which, as we all know, were later found not to be there. Will the inquiry examine the extent to which a wish or a desire to punish Iraq for its role in 9/11, which, as we now know, simply did not exist, led to that invasion? Secondly, will it examine the extent to which information was invented to show that the Iraqi regime had links with al-Qaeda, which led to the explanation of the reasons for invading Iraq? I believe that we were seriously misled in both respects. I should like the inquiry to look into that and into the extent to which we were told by the Americans what the real reasons were.