Former British prime minister Tony Blair apologises for ‘wrong intelligence’ before Iraq war and concedes it led to rise of Islamic State
A spokeswoman for Blair said of the CNN interview: “All of this he has said before”.
Britain’s ex-leader Tony Blair again apologised on Sunday for certain aspects of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, adding there were “elements of truth” to the view it was connected to the rise of the Islamic State group.
However, Blair insisted he still did not regret the removal of Saddam Hussein as Iraq’s leader as he said sorry over intelligence failings and planning mistakes.
“I apologise for the fact that the intelligence we received was wrong,” he told CNN in an interview. “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.
“I find it hard to apologise for removing Saddam. I think, even from today in 2015, it is better that he’s not there than that he is there.”
Blair acknowledged there were “elements of truth” to the argument that the US-led and British backed invasion of Iraq eventually led to the rise of IS jihadists in Syria and Iraq, according to a transcript on the CNN website.
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“Of course, you can’t say that those of us who removed Saddam in 2003 bear no responsibility for the situation in 2015,” he said.