Could former British Prime Minister Tony Blair be punished for his decision to invade Iraq in 2003?
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Tony Blair faced harsh criticism in the 2.6 million word Chilcot report, with the inquiry concluding the legal basis for taking Britain into the Iraq War was “far from satisfactory”.
Prescott said Blair’s statement that “I am with you, whatever” in a message to then US President George W. Bush before the invasion in March 2003, as revealed in the Chilcot report, was “devastating”.
In a response to Sir John Chilcot’s findings, an emotional Tony Blair said he expresses “more sorrow, regret and apology than you may ever know” over the war.
Prescott, writing in the Sunday Mirror newspaper, said he had now changed his view on the legality of the war and criticised Blair for stopping his ministers from fully discussing in advance whether it would be legal. “With great sadness and anger, I now believe him to be right”, Lord Prescott wrote.
The legal advice from Attorney General Lord Goldsmith was given only verbally, rather than in document form, he said.
Blair defended his decision to join the war, insisting it was taken “out of good motives” and that he believed the world was a better place now that former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had been removed.
Opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said he would back such a motion, the Press Association reported.
“It’s a bit like contempt of court, essentially by deceit”. Chilcot said Blair “deliberately exaggerated the threat posed by the Iraqi regime as he sought to make the case for military action to MPs and the public” and “disregarded warnings about the potential consequences of military action, and relied too heavily on his own beliefs, rather than the more nuanced judgments of the intelligence services”. “No parliament worth its salt tolerates being misled”, Scotland’s former first minister told ITV’s Peston on Sunday.
“An absence of scrutiny by the Conservative party opened the door for Blair and the Labour Government to pursue a counter-strategic, ill-resourced campaign”.
“Parliament must hold to account, including Tony Blair, those who took us into this particular war”.
The fact that Tony Blair and his cronies have come up with these ludicrous claims that criticisms of the Iraq invasion are based on “hindsight” is actually quite telling.
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Mr Twigg, who served as a minister under Mr Blair’s Labour Government, aimed part of the blame for deficient preparations with the United States of America, who he said dismantled the Iraq security and police services leading to a surge of thousands of unemployed men. On top of that, any actions needed the endorsement of our Parliament and that to go to war with the prime goal of regime change was illegal….
