Blair apologizes for Iraq War & admits conflict caused ISIS
‘I’m sorry’: Historic moment Tony Blair FINALLY apologises for Iraq War and admits in TV interview the conflict caused the rise of ISIS
BLAIR’S ‘APOLOGY’ IN FULL: HOW THE FORMER PM FINALLY ADMITTED MISTAKES BUT STILL REFUSED TO SAY SORRY FOR TOPPLING SADDAM
Appearing on the US TV network CNN Tony Blair was asked directly whether the decision to enter Iraq and topple Saddam Hussein had been ‘a mistake’.
He replied: ‘You know whenever I’m asked this I can say that I apologise for the fact that the intelligence I received was wrong.
‘Because even though he had used chemical weapons extensively against his own people against others, the programme in the form we thought it was did not exist in the way that we thought. So I can apologise for that.
‘I can also apologise, by the way, for some of the mistakes in planning and certainly our mistake in our understanding of what would happen once you had removed the regime.
‘But I find it hard to apologise for removing Saddam. I think even from today 2015 it’s better that he is not there than he is there.’
Mr Blair was then asked whether the invasion of Iraq was the ‘principle cause’ of the rise of ISIS.
The former Prime Minister said: ‘I think there are elements of truth in that. But we have got to be extremely careful otherwise we will misunderstand what’s going on in Iraq and in Syria today.
‘Of course you can’t say that those of us who removed Saddam in 2003 bear no responsibility for the situation in 2015.
‘But it’s important also to realise – one, that the Arab Spring which began in 2011 would also have had its impact on Iraq today. And two – ISIS actually came to prominence from a base in Syria and not in Iraq.
‘This leads me to the broader point, which I think is so essential when we are looking at policy today. We have tried intervention and putting down troops in Iraq. We’ve tried intervention without putting down troops in Libya.
‘And we’ve tried no intervention at all but demanding regime change in Syria.
‘It’s not clear to me that even if our policy did not work, subsequent policies have worked better.’