Howard: I still would have backed Iraq war
Conservative leader Michael Howard has said that he still would have backed invading Iraq, even knowing now that Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction.
The Tory leader this week launched an unprecedented attack on Tony Blair’s integrity and repeatedly branded him a “liar” for misrepresenting the case for war.
But speaking on BBC Question Time last night, Mr Howard said he still supports the military action despite the fact that it is not a “politically convenient” stance.
“I would have supported the war because I think it was the right thing to do,” he said, stressing that this was the “truth as I see it”.
When pressed, he continued: “Saddam Hussein had been in breach of many UN resolutions. I think he was a threat to the peace in the region and a threat to the wider peace in the world.
“But I think it was possible to go to war and tell the truth and I don’t think Mr Blair did that. I think it was possible to go to war with a plan.
“It would be politically much more convenient for me to say that I think it was a terrible mistake and I wouldn’t have done it.
“But I’m afraid I have got to be straight with you about this even though it is politically inconvenient.”
Speaking on the same programme, the Prime Minister said that he believed going to war on Iraq was the right decision and was legal.
He admitted the decision had been “difficult” but said: “It was a political decision that had to be taken.”
Mr Blair had spent all day fending off accusations that he had misled his cabinet over the Attorney General’s advice on the legality of the war, advice which was finally published yesterday morning.
And this impassioned defence continued last night, with Mr Blair stressing: “The attorney general went through his reasoning and explained to the cabinet his view that there was a reasonable case that could be made and that the action was lawful.”
Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy also appeared on Question Time, where he slammed Mr Blair’s dismissal of the allegations of misrepresentation as a “damp squib”.
He told the Prime Minister to “go and describe these findings as a damp squib to the families of the service personnel who gave their lives in Iraq”.
Mr Kennedy concluded by saying a Liberal Democrat government would embark upon a phased withdrawal of British troops from Iraq at the end of the year.
