Mr Blair’s stance was at odds with the report’s finding that war was not the last resort, but that Britain triggered military action before all options for a peaceful resolution to the crisis had been exhausted.
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The US-led invasion was deeply controversial at the time as it did not have explicit approval from the UN Security Council, while claims that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction proved unfounded.
“It is a sign of a robust and open democracy that such a report has been produced, but it is imperative that we learn the lessons from this episode and ensure that our checks and balances remain forceful”.
But the biggest impact of the report, published Wednesday by former civil servant John Chilcot, will be on the reputation of former Prime Minister Tony Blair, the man responsible for committing British troops.
But he said he could not apologise for the decision to remove Saddam Hussein from power – and said history will “take a different view” on the war and its aftermath. “They were not challenged, and they should have been”, he said.
“We are not interested in re-litigating the decisions that lead to the Iraq war in 2003… we are not going to go through it [the report], we are not going to examine it, we are not going to try to make an analysis of it or make judgment of the findings one way or another”.
Following the publication of Sir John’s report, Mr Blair held a two-hour press conference in which he apologised to the families of those killed in the Iraq War, accepting that they will never “forget or forgive him”.
Meanwhile Mr Blair said the decision was “the most agonising and momentous” of his career, and that he would “carry it with me for the rest of my days”.
However, former attorney general Lord Peter Goldsmith has come under fire in Sir Chilcot’s report for the role he played in advising the Blair administration on the legal argument behind the invasion of Iraq.
Sir John Chilcot’s 12-volume report said the war “went badly wrong, with consequences to this day”.
“If we call us a civilized country then people should be accountable for the results of what they did”, he added, holding up a sign saying: “Justice for Iraq”.
But he was convinced that the world is a better place without Saddam Hussein.
It also revealed that in a remarkable private note sent on July 28th, 2002, Blair promised Bush: “I will be with you, whatever”.
Stressing that the decision was taken based on available information, Bishop said: “The Australian government – both Labour and Liberal – and the Australian parliament would take responsibility”, Efe news reported.
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”.
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Sarah O’Connor, whose brother Bob died when a military plane was shot down near Baghdad in 2005, branded Mr Blair “the world’s worst terrorist”.
