Blair admits Iraq is a disaster
Tony Blair has apparently acknowledged that the violence which has dominated Iraq since the US-led invasion in 2003 invasion was a “disaster”.
During an interview on the newly launched al-Jazeera English-language channel, David Frost suggested to the prime minister that allied involvement in Iraq had been “pretty much a disaster”.
In response, Mr Blair made an unexpected retort. “It has,” he said, before adding: “There’s a deliberate strategy – al-Qaida with Sunni insurgents on one hand, Iranian-backed elements with Shia militias on the other – to create a situation in which the will of the majority for peace is displaced by the will of the minority for war.”
Such a comment is the closest Mr Blair has come to stating that he made a mistake in supporting the invasion of Iraq and the occupation of the country by coalition forces.
Liberal Democrat leader Menzies Campbell suggested Mr Blair had “at long last” accepted the “enormity of the decision to take military action against Iraq”.
However, Downing Street played down the comment, saying Mr Blair had merely acknowledged the 67-year-old interviewer’s question in a “polite” way.
The interview was the first to be conducted by Sir David on the new channel, which launched last week after a number of delays.
