‘There was no lie’: Australia’s former PM John Howard defends decision to join Iraq war
The loss of life was regrettable but the country’s role in the conflict was justified at the time, says Howard following the release of Britain’s Iraq war inquiry
Former Australian leader John Howard on Thursday defended his decision to go to war with Iraq alongside the United States and Britain, saying it was justified at the time and there was “no lie”.
His comments follow an inquiry into Britain’s role in the conflict which found its then prime minister Tony Blair took his country into a badly planned, woefully executed and legally questionable conflict in Iraq in 2003.
I don’t believe, based on the information available to me, that it was the wrong decision
Howard, prime minister from 1996 to 2007 and considered with Blair to be George W. Bush’s staunchest ally in the US-led invasion, said he regretted the loss of life but stood by his decision.
“I believed that the decision to go into Iraq was justified at the time and I don’t resile from that because I thought it was the right decision,” he told a press conference in Sydney.
Asked whether he should offer an apology to military families, Howard said: “Obviously I am sorry for the wounds or injuries that anybody suffered.
“But if you’re saying to me do I apologise for the decision that I took, the core decision? Well, I defend that decision. Of course I defend it.
“I don’t retreat from it. I don’t believe, based on the information available to me, that it was the wrong decision. I really don’t.”