BRITAIN: The inquiry into the suicide of weapons expert Dr David Kelly will question BBC head, Mr Greg Dyke, and former defence intelligence chiefs on Monday about claims that the British government "sexed up" the case for war with Iraq.
Judge Lord Hutton, whose inquiry has plunged Mr Tony Blair into the most serious crisis of his six-year rule, has summoned former chief of defence intelligence, Air Marshal Sir Joe French, and his deputy Mr Tony Cragg.
Inquiry officials say they will also announce on Monday which witnesses will be recalled for cross-examination. The Defence Secretary, Mr Geoff Hoon, is widely expected to be among them.
The defence officials are likely to face awkward questions about why concerns aired by at least two intelligence analysts were not passed on to the authors of Mr Blair's 2002 dossier on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.
A separate parliamentary committee criticised the dossier's claim that Iraq could unleash chemical or biological weapons at 45 minutes' notice and said it should have been made clear that the claim referred only to short-range battlefield munitions.
No weapons of mass destruction - the main Anglo-US justification for war - were used against invading US and British troops and, five months after Saddam Hussein's overthrow, none have been found in Iraq.
The Hutton inquiry has already heard that two defence intelligence analysts raised serious doubts about language in the dossier, days before its publication.
One of them told Mr Cragg - a member of the Joint Intelligence Committee which drafted the dossier - of his concerns. Mr Cragg failed to inform other members.
The British parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee complained on Thursday that when it questioned Air Marshal French and Mr Hoon in July, neither mentioned that two defence intelligence staff members had put their concerns in writing.
Mr Dyke will also have difficult questions to answer. Lord Hutton's inquiry has revealed that senior BBC editors believed a report by defence correspondent Andrew Gilligan accusing the Prime Minister of "sexing up" his 2002 dossier, was "marred by flawed reporting".
Dr Kelly slashed his wrist after he was exposed as the source of the BBC report accusing the government of hyping up the case for war.- (Reuters)