No point in Iraq war inquiry: ex-minister

16 Aug 2012, 11:42 am   -   Source: AAP

Former defence minister Robert Hill says an inquiry into why Australia went to war in Iraq 10 years ago wouldn't produce any worthwhile outcome.

Former Howard government defence minister Robert Hill says it would be better to focus on security challenges of today and tomorrow rather than try to re-guess why Australia decided to go to war in Iraq 10 years ago.

Mr Hill, defence minister from 2001 to 2006, says he wouldn't worry if there was an inquiry into the decision-making that led to Australia joining the United States in the 2003 Iraq invasion.

"There's a lot of big challenges out there in the world today, including challenges of peace and security," he told the National Press Club in Canberra.

"For what it's worth, in my humble opinion, it would probably be better for Australia to focus on the issues of today and the issues of tomorrow than to try and re-guess matters of 10 years ago."

Former prime minister Malcolm Fraser is heading a new push for an independent inquiry into how Australia became involved in the Iraq invasion.

He's been backed by former defence chief General Peter Gration, former Defence department secretary Paul Barratt, independent MP Andrew Wilkie plus Greens and some Labor MPs.

Neither Labor nor the coalition have shown any inclination to launch such an inquiry.

Mr Hill, now chairman of the Cooperative Research Centre for Low Carbon Living, said he didn't think an inquiry would produce any worthwhile outcome.

He said the cabinet's decision-making was premised on beliefs about Iraq's possession of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) which, in the end, were proven to be incorrect.

"What we didn't realise was that Saddam Hussein had got rid of the weapons, but wanted to maintain the ambiguity in order to maintain his authority both globally and domestically," he said.

Mr Hill said much of the intelligence was on the public record.

"I listened to our intelligence people. I talked to the British intelligence people. I listened to what they had to say about other intelligence services around the world. I talked to the Americans," he said.

"They were all basically talking the same talk. You can have another inquiry, and come to a conclusion, well, maybe there was somebody else you should have talked to."

  • Follow us: 
  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Follow us on Youtube