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Blair defends Iraq war ahead of giving evidence

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

London, Dec 12, IRNA -- Former British prime minister Tony Blair has pre-empted giving evidence to the Iraq war inquiry by insisting he would have found a way to remove Saddam Hussein without weapons of mass destruction that were never found.

In an interview with a BBC religious program to be screened on Sunday, Blair still insisted that he was right to have invaded Iraq but denied that his Christian faith played a part in his decision.

"I would still have thought it right to remove him [Saddam Hussein]," he said when asked if he would have led Britain into the war had he known there were no weapons of mass destruction.

“You would have had to use and deploy different arguments about the nature of the threat," the former premier said. "I can't really think we'd be better with him and his two sons in charge.”

His defence comes ahead of being questioned early next year by the Iraq inquiry, which is seeking to learn lessons rather than to cast blame or decide whether the war was justified let alone legal without a clear UN mandate.

The inquiry has already heard that Blair made it clear to former US president George W Bush at a meeting in Texas 11 months before the 2003 Iraq invasion that he would be prepared to join the US in toppling Saddam.

The British premier proceeded with the war despite more than a million people demonstrating in the largest peace protest ever seen on the streets of London.

During his interview, he claimed that he sympathised with those who opposed and still oppose the invasion but said that in the end it was he who had to make the decision.

Bereaved military families have urged the Iraq inquiry to hold Blair to account for possible war crimes, even though it is not a judicial trial, which could have charged him of being in contempt of court for speaking out ahead of giving evidence.

The former premier, who delayed converting to Catholicism until after he resigned from power, also spoke about how his religious beliefs helped him in the invasion's immediate aftermath.

"I think sometimes people think my religious faith played a direct part in some of these decisions. It really didn't. It gives you strength if you come to a decision, to hold to that decision. That's how it supports your character in a situation of difficulty," he said.

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End News / IRNA / News Code 837517