New York, US (BBN)-Tony Blair has apologised for some of the mistakes that were made during the Iraq War, and says he recognises “elements of truth” behind opinion that the invasion caused the rise of Isil.
In a candid interview with CNN, the former prime minister was challenged by US political broadcaster Fareed Zakar who accused Blair of being George Bush’s ‘poodle’ over the conflict, reports The Telegraph.
During the exchange, which will air on CNN Europe at 11am and 7pm on Sunday, Blair says: “I apologise for the fact that the intelligence was wrong. I 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 removed the regime. But I find it hard to apologise for removing Saddam.”
When asked whether he thought the invasion led to the rise of Isil, he says: “I think there are elements of truth in that. Of course you can’t say those of us who removed Saddam in 2003 bear no responsibility for the situation in 2015.”
All of the key figures involved in the Iraq conflict, including Blair and other senior Labour politicians, are understood to have been given notice of the verdict on them in the Chilcot report expected to be made public next year.
Blair’s acknowledgement of responsibility, if not apology, for the rise of Islamic extremism, is aptly timed.
In 2004, he told MPs: “I will not apologise for the conflict. I believe it was right” and in 2007, he repeated this sentiment, saying: “I don’t think we should be apologising at all for what we are doing in Iraq.”
Last week, The Telegraph reported the inquiry was facing more chaotic delays after a leaked memo signalled Blair had signed up to the war in Iraq a year before it started.
It has also been reported that former David Blunkett, the former Labour home secretary, has revealed that he challenged Blair before the war about how to avoid any chaos after Saddam’s downfall.
Meanwhile, it was revealed that Blair made a secret trip to the White House to broker a deal on behalf of Muammar Gaddafi that deprived British victims of Libyan terrorism of millions of pounds in compensation.
Blair acted as a go-between in negotiations between Gaddafi and President George Bush over payments to terror victims, according to a senior source.
The disclosure was made as Blair ignored a deadline to explain his role to a parliamentary committee investigating the deal.
He was invited to respond by Friday but instead sent a letter at 6pm on the day of the deadline, asking when the deadline was.
The source said Blair travelled to Washington to intervene on behalf of Gaddafi in February 2008, after first meeting the dictator in Libya.
The new evidence suggests Blair, who had quit as prime minister less than a year earlier, had played an important role in negotiations between President Bush and Gaddafi.
At the time, Libya was being sued through the US courts for committing terror atrocities, and billions of pounds of Gaddafi’s assets were at risk of being frozen as part of the lawsuits.
The deal struck by President Bush and Gaddafi led to US victims receiving £1 billion in compensation , but in exchange all court cases were dropped under an act of Congress.
But British victims, who had brought cases in the US, including almost 200 families of victims of IRA terrorist attacks, were not included in the deal.
Blair has always insisted he had “nothing whatever to do with any compensation legislation signed by President Bush”.
BBN/SK/AD