Britain decided to join the 2003 invasion of
Iraq based on "flawed intelligence" which was
not challenged and should have been, a long-
awaited report has found.
John Chilcot, the chairman of the Iraq Inquiry
and a retired civil servant, said on Wednesday
that the invasion went "badly wrong".
"Military action in Iraq might have been
necessary at some point, but in March 2003,
there was no immediate threat from [then
Iraq President] Saddam Hussein," he said.
The 2.6 million-word Iraq Inquiry - which took
seven years to prepare - was published in full
on Wednesday. It can be accessed online .
Speaking 30 minutes before the official
publication, Chilcot said: "The UK chose to
join the invasion of Iraq before the peaceful
options for disarmament had been exhausted." Chilcot said that, despite explicit warnings,
the consequences of the invasion were
underestimated.
Responding to the report, former Prime
Minister Tony Blair said in a press conference
on Wednesday that he "accept[ed] full
responsibility without exception and without
excuse" for the decision to go to war in Iraq,
but insisted that the world "is in a better place
without Saddam Hussein".
"There was no rush to war," Blair declared.
"There were no lies. There was no secret
commitment to war."
He also said that he made the decision
because "it was the right thing to do based on
the information I had". He said his mistake
was in the "planning and process" following
the invasion.
Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and at least
179 British soldiers were killed during the
eight-year conflict.
Investigators also found the planning and
preparations for Iraq after Hussein was
overthrown were wholly inadequate, said
Chilcot, who had not been asked to rule on
the legality of the invasion.
"The people of Iraq have suffered greatly,"
Chilcot said.
In response to report, the White House said
US President Barack Obama has been "dealing
with the consequences" of the decision to
invade Iraq that he opposed.
Speaking from Baghdad, Ahmed Rushdi, Iraqi
political analyst, said that the report reminded
him of his previous statement, that "Tony
Blair is a liar".
"He lied to the British people. He lied to the
international community ... he lied on every
level".
"In the end, what happened in 2003, made us
in a position that Iraqis must take the blame
of what happened in 2003."
Rushdi said that it was the responsibility of
the "invaders" to consider the consequences
of war.
"It's only go to Iraq, invade Iraq, destroy the
infrastructure, destroy the nationality of all
the Iraqis," without a clear post-war plan, he
said.
Al Jazeera's Neave Barker, reporting from
London, said: "[Chilcot's remarks were] about
as damning as you can possibility get without
explicitly saying that war in Iraq was illegal." Tony Blair responds
Blair was the UK's prime minister at the time
of the US-led invasion, and strongly supported
joining Britain's key ally.
The Chilcot report concluded that Blair "set
the UK on a path leading to diplomatic activity
in the UN and the possibility of participation
in military action in a way that would make it
very difficult for the UK subsequently to
withdraw its support for the US."
As Chilcot addressed media at the Queen
Elizabeth II Centre in west London, anti-war
protesters gathered outside.
Before Britain entered the war 13 years ago,
at least one million people marched in the
capital against a military invasion.
Jack Straw: Haunted by the Iraq war?
Current Prime Minister David Cameron, of the
ruling Conservative Party, said the
government needed to learn the lessons from
what went wrong in the build-up to Britain's
joining the invasion of Iraq. He added that he
has put in place steps to avoid similar
problems.
"Military intervention is always difficult,
planning for the aftermath of intervention,
that is always difficult and I don't think in
this House we should be naive in any way
that there's a perfect set of plans ... that can
solve these problems in perpetuity."
'Never again'
The families of British troops killed in the
Iraq conflict said Britain should use the
Chilcot report to ensure the country never
made such grave mistakes again.
In a statement, a group of families who had
access to the report's executive summary said
that "never again must so many mistakes be
allowed to sacrifice British lives and lead to
the destruction of a country for no positive
end". The sister of one killed serviceman, Sarah
O'Connor, said the report confirmed there
was one "terrorist" that the world needed to
know about, "and that is Tony Blair".
The military families have long pushed for the
inquiry and for those responsible for Britain's
involvement to be held accountable.
The Iraq Inquiry has been repeatedly delayed,
in part by wrangling over the inclusion of
classified material, including conversations
between Blair and former US President George
W Bush. Some of Blair's pre-war letters to the
US president are published in Chilcot's report,
but not Bush's replies.
The report was released as Iraq reeled from
the deadliest attack since the 2003 invasion.
Early on Sunday, a suicide bomber detonated
an explosives-rigged lorry in Baghdad's
Karada district as it teemed with shoppers
before the holiday marking the end of the
holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan,
sparking infernos in nearby buildings.
At least 250 people died in the blast ,
including many children and women.
The bombing was claimed by the Islamic State
of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as
ISIS). http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/07/chilcot-report-uk-exhaust-peaceful-options-160706091456264.html

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