O’Connor said terrorists killed my brother, but “in that sentence of terrorists, I include Mr Blair”.
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Yesterday Mr Blair continued to defend his actions despite the independent inquiry finding the Iraq invasion was not a last resort, pledging his support to America “whatever” happened and failing to properly equip troops.
Mr Blair told interviewer John Humphrys people would not accept that he meant his regret over mistakes in the Iraq War until he disowned the decision to join the United States coalition to topple Saddam Hussein.
In a almost two hour-long news conference, the former prime minister said he still believes he acted in “good faith” and that the decision was the “hardest, most momentous, most agonizing” one he ever took.
“My thoughts are with the families who lost loved ones as a result of this conflict”, she said.
The former Prime Minister said it would have been “far better” to critique the information given to him by military intelligence, which claimed Iraq possessed chemical and biological weapons that could be mobilised at short notice.
– The report underscored the importance of collective ministerial decision-making and frank discussion and debate and criticized major failures by the UK’s intelligence services.
Mr Howard said despite the report’s criticisms of Mr Blair’s decisions, he agreed with the British prime minister’s decisions at the time.
Former Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond said he would like to see Blair investigated by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for a crime of aggression and face parliamentary action to stop him holding public office again.
Blair paid tribute to British Armed Forces, saying: “I will express my profound regret at the loss of life and the grief it has caused the families, and I will set out the lessons I believe future leaders can learn from my experience”.
Chilcot added in his statement: “The judgments about the severity of the threat posed by Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction – WMD – were presented with a certainty that was not justified”.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning, Abbott said there was “no question” that the invasion had led to chaos in the region. For all that the Iraq War was opposed by many Christians, including Pope John Paul II and other church leaders, there, as elsewhere, Blair’s faith underpinned his whole political mission.
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I know there are those who can never forget or forgive me for having taken this decision and who think that I took it dishonestly.
