Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has finally apologised for the Iraq War <tr>

breitbart.com ^ | Simon Kent and Raheem Kassam

[RoosterRedux]

The frank confession comes after 12 years in which he steadfastly refused to say sorry for the conflict, but the timing of his newfound penitence has been flagged up as perhaps yet another shrewd political move, rather than one of sorrow and conviction.

Mr Blair makes his qualified admission during a TV interview about the “hell” caused by his and then U.S. President George W. Bush’s decision to oust dictator Saddam Hussein. He repeatedly says sorry for his conduct, and references claims that the invasion was a war “crime” – while denying he committed one – but he said doesn’t regret bringing down Saddam.

But the words come at a time when the Trans-Atlantic focus on Iraq is once again dovetailing. In the United States, the Republican frontrunner Donald Trump has recently lashed out at his running mate Jeb Bush for his brother’s spearheading of the Iraq War.

In the United Kingdom, we have recently been told that the Chilcot Inquiry – a judge-led investigation into the Iraq War, taking both U.S. and UK sources into account, is rumoured to be published in the next few weeks. The report has taken six years and cost over £10 million in tax payer money.

Blair – who the Guardian hints may be embarking on a PR-stunt ahead of the release of Chilcot – is asked bluntly in the CNN interview, to be broadcast today: “Was the Iraq War a mistake?”

*snip*

Challenged that the Iraq War was “the principal cause” of the rise of 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.”

[RoosterRedux]

Full Title: Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has finally apologised for the Iraq War – and admitted he could be partly to blame for the rise of Islamic State (ISIS).

[cweese]

"Mr Blair makes his qualified admission during a TV interview about the “hell” caused by his and then U.S. President George W. Bush’s decision to oust dictator Saddam Hussein"

What about the hell the Iraqis were living in while Saddam was running the show?

[ClearCase_guy]

This all gets pretty twisty for me.

On the one hand, the Left will say: The Iraq War was unjustified. We swooped in, took out Saddam Hussein for no good reason at all, and the end result was the rise of ISIS.
And (apparently), Tony Blair now agrees with this.

On the other hand, Barack Obama will say: The situation in Syria is intolerable and we must get Assad out of power, and if we must arm "moderates" and give nuclear weapons to Iranian fundamentalists, then it's worth it to remove one of the last strong, secular leaders in the Middle East.

Is there a unifying theme to any of this? Or is it just "whatever"?

[RoosterRedux]

Trump’s gonna clobber Jeb with this.

[4rcane]

Do you think the Leftist in Europe think Obama committed war crimes as well? In Libya, Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan

[dp0622]

Honestly, that was their problem. Like NK, China and a million other countries.

We hit a hornets nest for no reason.

Saddam kept the religious nuts in place and was a foil to Iran.

Might have worked if we had let some of the military keep their jobs and much later if obummer had left troops there.

from what i recall, 19 of 21 were saudis.

We really showed them our firepower. /s

[RoosterRedux]

Despite the fact that Assad is an evil man, I think the Arab Spring needs to stop and Assad needs to stay in place.

Islam seems to be only controllable by secular strongmen.

[nathanbedford]

Tony Blair might have done better to have taken a page from Hillary Clinton's playbook and never, never apologize. Hillary will not apologize when she is actually committed crimes but Tony Blair is evidently eager to apologize for policy when he has committed no crime.

I have long ago published on these threads my mia culpa that I got the Iraqi war wrong, I eagerly supported the invasion at the time and have come to believe that it is one of the gravest foreign policy disasters in our nation's history. But that is by no means an admission that the United States invasion of Iraq was a war crime. Far from it, if there is a justification for the war in Iraq it was to stop war crimes.

If being Hillary Clinton means you never have to say you are sorry, being a constitutional conservative means you never have to say you are repugnant-and that is a very good thing indeed.

[McGruff]

Wimp.

[TwelveOfTwenty]

What about the hell the Iraqis were living in while Saddam was running the show?

Not to mention the sanctions, which were lifted after the war.

[laconic]

Interesting that after what, 14 years of training, the spending of untold billions and the loss of our best men and women, the Iraqi Army can currently field all of FIVE divisions. And when it comes to rescuing their citizens from ISIS, they need to rely on US Special Forces and some Kurds. If 14 years hasn’t been enough time to train them, no additional amount of time ever will.

[tirednvirginia]

It would seem the findings of the Chilcot report must be even more damning than Blair’s apology if Blair’s apology is meant to delay the release of that report.

In my opinion both will make Trump’s case. I just wonder why Jeb got into the race at all if they knew this report was coming out?

[redfreedom]

I was think the exact same.

[Old Teufel Hunden]

I think the big mistake was de-bathification. We took everyone out of the government that knew how to run the place. Of course there would be chaos. However, post 2011 is all on Obama. By 2011 things were to the point that the place was stabilized and violence was down. The rise of ISIS is all at Obama’s feet.

By using the left’s logic, we can blame Bill Clinton for not getting Bin Laden when he was going to be handed over to us in 1996 by Sudan. We get him then, no 9/11 and no war on terror.

[TwelveOfTwenty]

By using the left’s logic, we can blame Bill Clinton for not getting Bin Laden when he was going to be handed over to us in 1996 by Sudan. We get him then, no 9/11 and no war on terror.

I would agree with that conclusion, regardless of how you reached it.

[BitWielder1]

Whack one evil mole and another one pops up. Always.
Don't apologize or blame yourself, keep whacking.

[BusterBear]

There was a lot more to the Iraq war than just deposing Saddam. After 9/11, the Administration felt that we needed to show the Saudis and other Gulf states that (to paraphrase Jeb Bush) we “had skin in the game” - so that the Saudis would stop paying Al Qaeda protection money and would instead rely on US military might to protect their interests.

Osama had been painting the US as a paper tiger - that showing the US some opposition would be enough to make the US turn tail and run - see Lebanon, Somalia, Vietnam...And as the Arabs are wont to do, they go with the strong horse.

So it wasn’t just about Iraq.

[Jane Long]

Yeppers.

[Jane Long]

Yeppers.

[Alberta's Child]

I attribute Blair's comments to one simple thing: It has become impossible for people to avoid stating the obvious ... that the invasion of Iraq in 2003 was a complete disaster.

Whether or not the people who orchestrated that disaster "apologize" for it is of no consequence to me. To me they had no credibility before the invasion because I predicted that it would be a disaster. So unless they are willing to go home and blow their own brains out in disgrace, there's nothing they can do to ever be credible as far as I'm concerned.