1st LD Writethru: Britain likely to publish Iraq Inquiry in June or July next year

Britain is likely to publish the findings of its long-awaited Iraq Inquiry in June or July of 2016, Chair of the Inquiry Sir John Chilcot said in a letter to British Prime Minister David Cameron published Thursday.

The letter, sent to Cameron on Wednesday, set out a timetable for the completion of the Inquiry's report, which was established by former Prime Minister Gordon Brown in 2009 to investigate Britain's involvement in the Iraq War.

The letter said that the Inquiry expects to be able to complete the text of its report in the week of April 18 in 2016, when confidential access will be given to a team of officials for national security checking before its publication.

"The very considerable size of our report -- more than 2 million words in total -- means that it will take some weeks to prepare for printing and publication ... We will complete that work as swiftly as possible," Chilcot said in the letter. Endi