MI5 head to testify in U.K. Iraq inquiry

LONDON, June 11 (UPI) -- The former head of MI5 and a former UN weapons inspector will testify at Britain's inquiry about that country's entry into the Iraq war, officials say.

Hans Blix, former UN weapons inspector and ex-MI5 Director General Lady Manningham-Buller are scheduled to testify before a committee headed by Sir John Chilcot that is investigating Great Britain's role in the 2003 invasion of Iraq and its involvement in that war until July 2009, The Guardian reported Friday.

Manningham-Buller will be asked to give evidence concerning her position as head of the MI5 intelligence service until her retirement in 2007.

Blix will testify about his role as the first executive chairman of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, from 2000 to 2003, the newspaper said.

The witness list includes former UK Ambassador to Iran Sir Richard Dalton and former diplomat Carne Ross, who quit the Foreign Office in 2004 after serving as the Middle East specialist in the U.K. mission to the United Nations.

"It is likely that the inquiry will hold another round of public hearings in the autumn to cover new subjects, provide new evidence, or revisit issues with previous witnesses, if required," the Guardian quoted from the committee's Web site.