UK's Brown calls Iraq war inquiry, critics unhappy

By Frank Prenesti and Adrian Croft

LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced a long-awaited probe on Monday into Britain's decision to join the 2003 invasion of Iraq but opponents accused him of a cover-up by holding the inquiry in private.

Brown's government, and that of his predecessor Tony Blair, have resisted pressure to hold an inquiry into the war until British troops left Iraq.

With all but 500 British troops now out of Iraq, Brown told parliament, "Now is the right time to ensure we have a proper process in place to learn the lessons of the complex, and often controversial events of the last six years."

Analysts said Brown may have timed the probe to shore up his support on the left of the ruling Labour Party and with disenchanted Labour voters after disastrous European election results and an attempted revolt against him this month.

But he angered critics by refusing to hold the hearings in public, citing national security concerns, and by limiting the investigators to a group of top civil servants and academics.

Brown also said that the inquiry would take about a year, pushing it beyond the next national election, thus avoiding any possible political damage to the government.

"Everyone knows that the invasion of Iraq was the biggest foreign policy mistake this country has made in generations," Nick Clegg, leader of the opposition Liberal Democrats, who opposed the Iraq war, said.