The statement came days after the release of a controversial report on the matter.
Advertisement
The conclusion of the inquiry found that Prime Minister Tony Blair’s decision to go to war in Iraq in 2003 was a failure born of flawed intelligence, lack of foresight and “wholly inadequate” planning. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have lost their lives and a generation has been shaped by this illegal war.
He said: “As the deputy prime minister in that Government I must express my fullest apology, especially to the families of the 179 men and women who gave their lives in the Iraq war”.
The Labour leader accused Blair of “denying Parliament the information it should have had”.
This was the view of the then United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan as expressed in 2004. “With great sadness and anger, I now believe him to be right”, Prescott reportedly wrote.
A seven-year inquiry, chaired by Sir John Chilcot, concluded that the Blair government’s estimates of the threats posed by so-called Iraqi “weapons of mass destructions” were “presented with a certainty that was not justified”.
SNP MSP James Dornan has also lodged a motion in the Scottish Parliament calling for those implicated by the findings of the Chilcot report to hand back their honours.
“Of course, Chilcot is not deciding on that, but we do not know that he makes very clear in his report that it relied on evidence from the Attorney General Lord Goldsmith that it was legal to go to war at that point”. It should. George Bush and Tony Blair should be hauled before a Nuremberg type worldwide tribunal to face charges of war crimes and launching aggressive war.
The inquiry, which was seven years in the making and headed by retired civil servant John Chilcot, concluded that Britain joined the US -led invasion “before the peaceful options for disarmament had been exhausted”.
“I now apologise sincerely on behalf of my party for the disastrous decision to go to war in Iraq”.
Asked if he had considered whether that could happen, Mr Blair said: “No, but I do understand why they can’t agree with me and will never forgive me for this decision”.
Before invading Iraq, Blair told British MPs that intelligence showed Saddam Hussein had “active”, “growing” and “up and running” nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.
The Chilcot report into the Iraq invasion published Wednesday said the legal basis for the war was reached in a way that was “far from satisfactory”.
Now it could be argued that Chilcot might not only have destroyed any shred of reputation Blair had left, he might help save the position of Corbyn.
Advertisement
Others have claimed the conduct of the post-2003 occupation and the nearly total restructuring of Iraqi society along neoliberal lines could also give rise to charges. “Parliament must hold to account, including Tony Blair, those who took us into this particular war”.
