Chilcot report set to be released on Wednesday

The long-awaited Chilcot report investigating Britain's participation in the Iraq War is set to be published on Wednesday, with former prime minister Tony Blair expected to be absolved of any serious wrongdoing during the conflict.

179 British troops were killed during the bloody war, as well as over 170,000 Iraqi civilians, although that number is as high as 600,000 according to some sources.

The report was initiated in 2009 by Gordon Brown after increasing pressure for justice to be served following the failure to locate the Weapons of Mass Destruction, which were the focal point of the war.

The report was initiated in 2009 by Gordon Brown

Iraq is still feeling the after-effects of the conflict, on Sunday as many as 250 people were reported dead after a bomb in a Baghdad shopping district.

The former senior civil servant leading the inquiry, Sir John Chilcot, confirmed in a television interview that certain individuals are heavily criticised in the report.

"The essence of this Inquiry is that the committee is impartial — we're independent of government, none of us are politicians, and we haven't set out to criticise individuals or institutions," he said.

"However, I made very clear right at the start of the inquiry that if we came across decisions or behaviour which deserved criticism then we wouldn't shy away from making it. And indeed, there have been more than a few instances where we are bound to do that."

Chilcot made it clear that it had been a thorough investigation, having been completed over a period of 7 years, and that any comments were well backed up with evidence.

Chilcot made it clear that it had been a thorough investigation, having been completed over a period of 7 years

"We shall do it on a base of a rigorous analysis of the evidence that supports that finding. We are not a court — not a judge or jury at work — but we've tried to apply the highest possible standards of rigorous analysis to the evidence where we make a criticism."

Speaking to BBC News, the head of the investigation said that regardless of the outcome of the inquiry, lessons should be learned in how to conduct diplomatic and military affairs from this point onwards.

It should no longer be possible ""to engage in a military or indeed a diplomatic endeavour on such a scale and of such gravity without really careful challenge analysis and assessment and collective political judgement being applied to it," Chilcot affirmed.

Campaigners and victims' families may well be dissatisfied with the findings provided by Chilcot, which are likely to fall short of a full culpability on the part of Blair.