Tony Blair (former UK PM) takes partial blame for Iraq War and creation of ISIS
(Even after over 23 years, Blair is lying through his teeth.
In the meantime, he has been racking $millions for speeches, talks and appointment as Palestinian/Israel head for 4 parties negotiation during the last 2 decades.
He knew the pieces of intelligence were wrong from the start but he wanted to reap the $billions that the USA dangled to him and give cover to the Alliance.)
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.’
A 2002 briefing note from US Secretary of State Colin Powell to the President showed Blair had secretly pledged to back the conflict – while telling MPs and British voters that he was seeking a diplomatic solution.
In his CNN interview, Blair candidly asks for forgiveness for his blunder in not realising ‘what would happen once you removed the regime’.
The admission makes a mockery of the statement in the Powell memo that Blair would ‘demonstrate [to Bush] that we have thought through ‘the day after’ ‘ – a reference to the consequences of invasion.
However, the bloody chaos in the region continues to this day.
And in a separate development, former Labour Home Secretary David Blunkett has revealed that he challenged Blair before the war about avoiding chaos after Saddam’s downfall.
Lord Blunkett says Blair failed to give him such ‘reassurances’ – and instead placed blind faith in the two main ‘hawks’ in the US administration, Vice-President Dick Cheney and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
Lord Blunkett also vented his fury that Sir John Chilcot, who is leading the long-delayed inquiry into the Iraq War, had failed to ask him to give evidence.
‘I will not apologise for the conflict. I believe it was right.’ House of Commons 2004
‘I don’t think we should be apologising at all for what we are doing in Iraq. We should be immensely proud. I can’t take responsibility for people sending car bombs into a market place.’ TV interview , 2007
I may have been wrong, but I did what I thought was right for our country.’ When he resigned as PM, 2007
[If he had known there were no WMDs] ‘I would still have thought it right to remove Saddam.’ TV interview, 2009
‘It was a headline question. It had to have a headline answer.
Answer ‘Yes’ and I knew the outcome: ‘Blair apologises for war’, ‘At last he says sorry’. I can’t say sorry in words; I can only hope to redeem something from the tragedy of death, in the actions of a life, my life, that continues still.’ Memoirs , 2010
‘When people say to me, ‘Do you regret removing him’, my answer is, ‘No – how can you regret removing somebody who was a monster?’ ‘ TV interview , 2013
Remarkably, Blair himself predicted how the apology U-turn he finally makes today would be reported.
In his 2010 memoirs, he explained why he had so far refused to say ‘yes’ when asked if he was sorry, because he knew it would prompt damaging headlines.
‘Answer ‘Yes’ and I knew the outcome: ‘BLAIR APOLOGISES FOR WAR’, ‘AT LAST HE SAYS SORRY’. I can’t say sorry in words.’
His apology is bound to prompt claims that he is trying to head off the scathing criticism of his handling of the Iraq War expected to be included in Chilcot’s findings.
All the key figures, including Blair and other senior Labour politicians, are understood to have been given notice of the broad thrust of Chilcot’s verdict on them, expected to be made public next year.
As a master of public relations and media manipulation, Blair may have calculated that since Chilcot is likely to accuse him of major errors of judgment, it is better for him to volunteer an apology now, rather than be forced to do so if, as seems certain, Chilcot’s damning assessment gives him little choice.
The former Prime Minister’s decision to make his apology in the US, as opposed to the UK, is also significant.
Far from presenting his apology in a harsh critical light, CNN interviewer Zakaria, a personal friend of Blair, showers praise on him for being the only interviewee in the programme who ‘took responsibility for Iraq’ on camera.
Most of the others involved in the show, senior US political and military figures, blamed each other.
The Colin Powell memo – which this newspaper found among declassified US State Department documents while searching through a cache of Hillary Clinton’s recently released emails – was written in March 2002, a week before Mr Blair met Mr Bush for a summit at his ranch in Crawford, Texas.
In our report, which made headlines around the world, we revealed that Powell had said Blair ‘will be with us’ should the US take military action in Iraq and that the ‘UK will follow our lead’.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3287982/I-m-sorry-Blair-takes-blame-Iraq-War-admits-conflict-caused-rise-ISIS-astonishing-apology-TV-show.html#ixzz3phCrr65h
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
توني بلير ، رئيس وزراء بريطانيا الأسبق ، وشريك جورج بوش في جريمة تدمير العراق وقتل اكثر من مليون مواطن من أبنائه وجعله مرتعاً للفوضى والإرهاب والمجازر ، يعترف بأن الحرب على العراق لم يكن لها مبر وكانت خديعة وافتراء ويعتذر ….فمتى تنكشف خديعة الحرب على سورية ؟؟
The extraordinary confession by the former Prime Minister came during a TV interview about the ‘hell’ caused by his and George Bush’s decision to oust Saddam Hussein.
Like this:
Like Loading...
Adonis Diaries 