Iraq: Searching for the truth

Tom Andrews says the UN did a better job in Iraq than America and Britain

In a Hardtalk interview on 2 July, Tim Sebastian talks to former US Congressman and director of the anti-war group, Win Without War, Tom Andrews about why he is calling for an independent inquiry into whether Iraq in fact represented an "imminent threat" to US security prior to the war.

Click here to watch the full interview

Win Without war describes itself as America's mainstream anti-war coalition.

National director Tom Andrews says its mission is to defeat the US administration's unilateral, pre-emptive war policy.

we should be investigating and finding out the truth, not giving out medals

Tom Andrews

Mr Andrews says Iraq is better off without Saddam Hussein as leader, but he says the US administration needs to be questioned about the true extent of the threat from weapons of mass destruction.

He says the United Nations programme, which included weapons inspections, had success during its 12 years of operation in Iraq.

"We discovered and destroyed more weapons of mass destruction using the United Nationals process than we did in the entire Iraq war in 1991."

No awards

Mr Andrews says British Prime Minister Tony Blair should not be given the Congressional Gold Medal, America's most prestigious civilian award, when he travels to the United States later this month.

The prime minister will become the first Briton since Winston Churchill to receive the honour.

"No he shouldn't, with this cloud hanging over both him and the White House, when American and British soldiers continue to die in Iraq, when all of these unanswered questions about the manipulation of facts and deception remain very much at large. No we should be investigating and finding out the truth, not giving out medals."

HARDtalk can be seen on BBC World at 03:30 GMT, 08:30 GMT, 15:30 GMT, 18:30 GMT and 23:30 GMT.

It can also be seen on BBC News 24 at 03:30 GMT and 22:30 GMT