HomeOld_PostsBlair under fire for admitting mistakes made in Iraq

Blair under fire for admitting mistakes made in Iraq

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IN a television interview with CNN, Tony Blair, the former British Prime Minister whose premiership saw the invasion of Iraq, which so far destabilised the Middle-East, finally acknowledged that the Iraq invasion was a mistake based on false intelligence.
He agrees that the invasion of Iraq has also contributed to the rise of the much-dreaded Islamic State (ISIS).
CNN: “Given that Saddam had no Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD), was the war a mistake?”
Tony Blair: “I apologise the fact that the intelligence we received 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.”
CNN: “You went from being the most successful British politician of your generation to being called a war criminal.
“How has that made you feel?”
Tony Blair: “When I think of my ‘crime’, if you like, which is removing Saddam, and we’ve watched Syria unfold, with hundreds of thousands dying… We in the West bear responsibility for this, Europe most of all.
“We’ve done nothing.
“That’s a judgment of history I’m prepared to have.”
On whether the Iraq invasion gave rise to ISIS he said, “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.” (Daily Mail, October 24 2015).
Many people think this apology has been long overdue; others think he has been man enough to come out in the open and acknowledge his mistakes.
However, many people are angry that his acknowledgement of his mistake will not bring back the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who died as a result of the war; neither will it bring back Saddam Hussein who was toppled and humiliated before being hanged.
Donald Trump, the Republican presidential frontrunner, told the CNN’s ‘State of the Union’ talk show early this week that the world was a better place with Saddam and Gaddafi alive.
Referring to Iraq as the ‘Harvard of Terrorism’, he said: “People are getting their heads chopped off.
“They’re being drowned.
“Right now it’s far worse than ever under Saddam Hussein or Gaddafi.
“I mean, look what happened.
“Libya is a catastrophe.
“Libya is a disaster.
“Iraq is a disaster.
“Syria is a disaster.
“The whole Middle-East.
“It all blew up around Hillary Clinton and around Obama.
“It blew up… If you look at Iraq from years ago, I’m not saying he (Saddam) was a nice guy.
“He was a horrible guy, but it’s better than it is now.” (Jeremy Diamond, CNN).
Reacting to Tony Blair’s admission of wrongly invading Iraq, a Zimbabwean facebook user, Keyi Banda commented: “The only way for this bogus lawyer is a one-way ticket to The Hague.
“Imagine you’re an Iraqi, had your livelihood obliterated and you get to hear this!”
Many Britons also expressed their rage on social media.
I took the following comments from readers who responded to a Daily News post on their facebook page.
Sitara Ahmed (UK): “Will you bring back 500 000 Iraqi children?
“Does your sorry mean anything?
“Do you have anything to say to families of victims?
“Do you think you are a human being?
“Do you have an iota of shame?”
Matthew Mc Donnell: “Send him off to The Hague then to face war crimes and taking a country to war based on a pack of lies.”
Princess Rashan (UK): “Really?
“Blair ruined our country.
“We were fine with Saddam Hussein and he kept Iraq safe for a long time until George Bush and Tony Blair came up with false and lots of lies about the WMD and there weren’t any kinds of weapons in Iraq.”
Lawan Kamaran (Oslo): “Removing Saddam has led to one million deaths, giving Iraq to Iran as cake, making Iraq as a nest for thousands global terrorists, rise of hundreds (multimiliarder?) corruptive Iraqi politicians and even tyrants like Barzani in Kurdistan, repeating the scenario in Syria and creation of ISIS, thousands Shitte mafia groups, etc .
“Both Blair and Bush must be placed in jail.”
Robert Elliot: “You can’t blame Blair.
“Bush said ‘jump’ and Blair said ‘how high?’”
Jaouad Haddad (Morocco): “What can we gain from his apologising after killing millions of people in Iraq and affecting the neighbours?
“The situation is unstable in the Middle-East due to this war.”
And who are we to judge Tony Blair?
Before his execution, Saddam’s lawyers released a letter and some of its contents were about forgiveness.
Below are some of its contents:
“Remember that God has enabled you to become an example of love, forgiveness and brotherly coexistence.
“I call on you not to hate, because hate does not leave a space for a person to be fair and it makes you blind and closes all doors of thinking and keeps away one from balanced thinking and making the right choice.
“I also call on you not to hate the peoples of the other countries that attacked us and differentiate between the decision-makers and peoples.
“Anyone who repents – whether in Iraq or abroad – you must forgive him.”
Saddam may have been killed, (using false intelligence, according to Blair’s interview), but he will never come back and the Middle-East will continue burning.
It will never be the same again; terrorists will continue to cause havoc and refugees will continue to pour into Europe.

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