Source: BBC

Tony Blair says the world would be “in a worse position” had he not taken the decision to invade Iraq.

The former PM said despite the “terrible consequences”, removing Saddam Hussein “moved with the grain” of what was to come in the region.

He also said it would be “far better” if he had challenged intelligence on Iraq’s weapons in the run-up to war.

The official inquiry into the 2003 war was strongly critical of Mr Blair’s government and UK military chiefs.

Sir John Chilcot’s report, published on Wednesday, said Mr Blair had overstated the threat posed by Saddam Hussein, sent ill-prepared troops into battle and had “wholly inadequate” plans for the aftermath of the conflict.

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Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Mr Blair insisted that although mistakes had been made, the decision to join the US-led invasion had been the right one.

And he hit back at claims he had secretly committed the UK to help US President George W Bush topple Saddam Hussein and then overstated the threat posed by Saddam Hussein’s alleged weapons of mass destruction to sell the war to the public and MPs.

‘Flawed’ intelligence

In a December 2001 memo, among more than 30 such notes released with the Chilcot report, Mr Blair said to Mr Bush that he would be “with you, whatever”, before setting out some of the conditions he believed the US would need to meet to attract support, including seeking UN authorisation.

Mr Blair told Today he had not “made some irrevocable decision to go to war” at that point.

“We were giving the United States a very clear commitment that we would be alongside them in dealing with this issue,” he said.

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The Chilcot report said Saddam Hussein had posed “no imminent threat” at the time of the invasion, which had been launched on the basis of “flawed” intelligence.

It also found that warnings about the increased risk of terrorist activity and regional instability had not been shared with the public and MPs.

The inquiry’s chairman, Sir John Chilcot, said Mr Blair and his ministers should not have accepted the intelligence reports on Saddam’s weapons at face value.

Mr Blair said he had relied on these reports, but acknowledged: “It would have been far better to have challenged them more clearly.”

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