Australian premier orders to probe documents missing from Iraq war

By Anadolu staff

Australian prime minister on Wednesday ordered an inquiry to be made for some missing cabinet documents on Canberra joining the Iraq war in 2003.

Speaking to reporters in Sydney, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said that Australians have the right to know why their country joined the US and British forces during the Iraq war.

According to the premier, as per procedure, every 20 years, documents are handed to the National Archives of Australia three years before being made public.

Former Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s government provided the documents related to the Iraq war in 2020. However, some 78 cabinet records were not transferred to the National Archives.

“It’s clear that some cabinet records were missing from that transfer from the government,” said Albanese, according to the transcript published on the prime minister’s official website.

“Let me make the position of my government very clear. Australians have a right to know the basis upon which Australia went to war in Iraq,” he added.

In 2003, Albanese’s center-left Labor Party opposed the government’s decision to send troops in support of the US and UK during the Iraq war. The decision to enter the Iraq war spiked protests across the country.

“Australians lost their lives during that conflict, and we know that some of the stated reasons for going to war were not correct in terms of the weapons of mass destruction that Iraq had at that time,” said the Australian prime minister.

He added that Australians have a right to know the 2003 government’s decision-making process, and his government believes this mistake must be corrected.

Albanese appointed former public servant Dennis Richardson to conduct an investigation and submit his report within two weeks.

* Writiing by Islamuddin Sajid