Blair remains resolute on war in Iraq
Tony Blair received a standing ovation of over seven minutes for a determined speech to the Labour Party conference in Bournemouth on Tuesday.
He insisted that he would “take the same decision again” on Iraq despite widespread opposition to the war.
The Prime Minister claimed that the Government had taken the decision to go to war “not because we are America’s poodle, but because dealing with it will make Britain safer”.
“Those British soldiers who died are heroes,” he added, telling delegates that “Iraq is a better country without Saddam”.
Doubts over Mr Blair’s case for war have been fuelled by the failure to find any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The existence of a substantial military threat from Iraq was used as the basis for war.
However, the Prime Minister refused to back down on his decision to invade Iraq, claiming that weapons of mass destruction represented the “security threat of the twenty-first century”.
Despite the recent uncomfortable revelations about the use of weapons intelligence in the lead up to war and the apparent suicide of government scientist Dr David Kelly, Mr Blair remained resolute.
“There was no easy choice. So whatever we each of us thought, let us agree on this. We who started the war must finish the peace,” he declared.
