He denied that he did not challenge intelligence reports on Saddam’s supposed WMDs more rigorously because he wanted to believe them to justify going to war.
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In his 12-volume document, Sir John placed the burden of responsibility on Blair and revealed the extent of his alliance with the then USA president George W. Bush to whom he promised an unconditional support for the invasion of Iraq in 2002.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Wednesday that the president and his staff have not read all the way through the lengthy document yet, but he said President Obama “has been dealing with the consequences of that fateful decision for the entirety of his presidency”.
The national media (newspapers) launched an immediate attack and thrashed Blair’s reputation following the Chilcot report on the Iraq war.
“‘You lied about the intelligence’ – that’s what people say the whole time”, Blair said.
Cambridge Unite community secretary James Youd, who campaigned against the war in Iraq, said the report concluded “what many who opposed the Iraq invasion 13 years ago knew to be true”.
Anti-war activists and the relatives of some dead British troops had hoped that the report could lay the initial groundwork for Blair’s prosecution for war crimes.
“If you disagree with me fine, but please stop saying I was lying or I had some sort of dishonest or underhand motive”, he told reporters, hours after the release of the scathing report.
Chilcot interviewed 150 witnesses and poured through 150,000 documents during his inquiry, yet did not conclude whether the war itself was legal.
Those of us in the anti-war movement have known all along that Blair took us to war on unacceptably poor intelligence, on the basis of lies and with a huge amount of exaggeration and propaganda. There are many who want Mr Blair to face criminal action over the military action that led to the deaths of 179 United Kingdom soldiers and more than 150,000 Iraqi civilians over the following six years.
He says claims made about the threat posed by Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction were not substantiated.
Blair, however, stood by his decision to join U.S. President George W. Bush in toppling Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
Mr Campbell said that the world was “a better place” for the removal of Saddam Hussein from power. Seven years in the making – and 2.6 million words – a devastating verdict is now delivered.
In his letters, many of which are undated, Blair was frequently blunt about the lack of public and political support in Britain and elsewhere for an invasion of Iraq.
Speaking after a meeting with families of some of the British soldiers who had been killed, Mr Corbyn said the war was a “stain on our party and our country”. “But I certainly hope it points the finger of accountability in the direction of the former prime minister who was the key player with all of this deceit”, Keys said.
“At the moment the main feeling for me is anger at what’s come out from this report”.
Sarah O’Connor, 43, hit out at the former prime minister as he faced up to the threat of legal action following his decision to take Britain to war in Iraq in 2003.
Peter Goldsmith, Britain’s attorney general at the time, initially advised the invasion would be illegal without a U.N. Security Council resolution, but changed his mind shortly before war began.
Mr Blair, appearing exhausted and at times emotional, presented a two-hour defence of his conduct in light of the inquiry report that said Britain had made a decision to invade Iraq before exhausting peaceful options, used intelligence presented with a “certainty that was not justified”, and undermined the authority of the United Nations. Was it right for Britain to join the US led war in Iraq in 2003?
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Blair added that if they had succeeded in the United Nations there would not have been a war.
