The British government on Tuesday announced it would launch an inquiry into the intelligence about Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction that underpinned its decision to go to war.

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"There are issues to deal with intelligence" that need to be looked at, Prime Minister Tony Blair said appearing before a committee of senior parliamentarians.

Lord Robin Butler of Brockwell, former cabinet secretary and head of the civil service between 1988 and 1998, will lead the inquiry committee, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw told the House of Commons later.

The committee, which would report to Blair before July, would have access to all intelligence assessments and would be
able to call witnesses to give oral evidence in private, he said.

It will also include a Labour and a Conservative lawmaker. The Liberal Democrats, the third largest party in parliament, has refused to participate in the inquiry.

Straw said the government recognised that "there are wider and entirely legitimate concerns about the reliability of the original intelligence" on Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction.

Earlier, Blair told the Commons Liaison Committee he hoped to reach an agreement with Britain's other major political parties about the investigation.

Blair's climb-down follows the decision by US President George W Bush to announce an investigation into American pre-war intelligence.

The British prime minister said he was "not so sure" about his previous assumption that the Iraq Survey Group would publish its full findings shortly. "It's possible it will take more months than we thought."

Blair, however, insisted the decision to go to war was the right one. "I have no doubt whatsoever we did the right thing... I believe it was the right thing to do."

Blair also paid tribute to the work of the intelligence services. "I think they are dedicated public servants. They do an immensely difficult job. And intelligence is not some absolute science, as we all know.

"Let's be under no doubt about this at all. We cannot have a situation where we simply treat intelligence or security advice that is given in a way that we just throw it open to whoever wants to pick it up."