TONY Blair was yesterday roundly condemned for seeking to minimise the damage to his reputation from the forthcoming Chilcot Report by apologising over the false intelligence that justified the Iraq War.
As calls were made for the former PM to be brought to justice for the invasion, he also admitted the conflict was to blame for the rise of Daesh extremists.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon accused the ex-PM of starting to prepare the ground for criticisms he was expecting when the long-delayed report into the 2003 conflict is finally published.
“The Blair spin operation begins but the country still awaits the truth,” the leader of the SNP, which was against the war, posted on Twitter. The delay to Chilcot report is a scandal.”
The timetable for publication of the Chilcot Report, originally due in 2010, is expected this week and Blair is aware at the censure he is likely to face in the document.
Considerable effort was made by Blair’s Government into the compiling of an intelligence dossier which claimed the Iraq President Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction and which was the justification for the war, but the claims were later shown to be untrue.
Blair came under attack last week when a White House memo emerged suggesting a year ahead of the war, he was secretly supporting US moves to invade Iraq while publicly claiming he was seeking a diplomatic solution.
Yesterday, Blair used a US television interview to express regret over the failure to plan properly for the aftermath of the 2003 toppling of Saddam Hussein and the false intelligence used to justify it.
“I apologise for the fact that the intelligence we received was wrong,” he told CNN.
“I also apologise for some of the mistakes in planning and, certainly, our mistake in our understanding of what would happen once you removed the regime.”
Asked by host Fareed Zakaria if the Iraq war was “the principal cause” of the rise of Daesh, he responded: ‘I think there are elements of truth in that.”
He added: “Of course you can’t say those of us who removed Saddam in 2003 bear no responsibility for the situation in 2015.”
Last night Rose Gentle, the mother of Scots soldier Gordon, 19, who was killed in Iraq in 2004, said she did not believe Blair’s apology was genuine and hoped he would be brought to justice.
“I don’t think his apology is genuine. He has refused many times to apologise and I just think he is doing it now because of all the information coming out,” she said.
“It is a pretty big mistake Blair is admitting to, that the intelligence was wrong, that for his reason for going to war, and I hope he will be brought to justice,” she said.
The SNP’s Westminster leader Angus Robertson said that the “tapestry of deceit” manufactured by Labour to take Britain into the “illegal war” was “unravelling”.
“Those who lost loved ones in Iraq and all those who protested against it deserve a full and frank account of the decisions which led to the invasion and, as Tony Blair now admits, also led to the rise of Daesh,” he said.
“Nobody will be fooled by Tony Blair’s weasel words.”
Maggie Chapman, co-covenor of the Scottish Greens, said: “Tony Blair’s actions are as transparent as they are cynical. The fact that his apology is not for going to war on false pretenses, but for bungling the process adds insult to the very considerable injury. It is now clear to everyone that he was wrong in 2003 – something we all fully expect that to be a key finding of the Chilcot inquiry. While Blair himself has become very rich, the disastrous impact of the war continues to scar both Iraq and beyond through the rise in Daesh and the refugee crisis. These mealy-mouthed half-apologies are simply not good enough. If Blair was truly sorry, he would surrender himself for trial as a war criminal at The Hague.”
Sir Menzies Campbell, former leader of the Liberal Democrats, which also opposed the war, said: “No matter what Tony Blair says or any criticisms there will be of him in the Chilcot Inquiry report, people have long since made up their minds.
“His partial acknowledgement that the military action against Saddam Hussein has made some contribution to instability in the Middle East will do nothing to change public opinion that his was a major error of judgment.
“The inevitable truth is that Iraq is his legacy and it will be his epitaph.”
The Chilcot Inquiry was set up in 2009 by the then Prime Minister Gordon Brown with an assurance it would take a year.
The process known as “Maxwellisation”, under which those who may face criticism are given the opportunity to respond before publication, has led to considerable delays in the report coming out.
Relatives of soldiers killed in the conflict have threatened legal action if a date is not fixed soon.
A spokeswoman for Blair yesterday sought to play down the significance of his comments.
“Tony Blair has always apologised for the intelligence being wrong and for mistakes in planning. He has always also said, and says again here, that he does not however think it was wrong to remove Saddam.”
Carolyn Leckie: Don’t be fooled: Blair has still not said sorry
The National View: Blair is in damage limitation mode as Chilcot report looms
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