Tony Blair sorry for Iraq war 'mistakes' and admits conflict played role in rise of Isis https://t.co/W04ThR3hxp
— The Guardian (@guardian) 2015, 10月 25Tony Blair defies critics over Iraq War in CNN interview - BBC News
The former prime minister told US news channel CNN it was "hard to apologise" for removing Saddam Hussein, and Iraq might have become like Syria otherwise.
He believed it was better that Saddam Hussein was no longer in power and suggested that if the Iraq invasion had not taken place there was the danger the country would have degenerated into civil war, as Syria did.
The former Labour leader apologised for the inaccuracy of intelligence reports in the run-up to war and for poor post-conflict planning.
However, he has made both of these points before, to Parliament and to the Iraq Inquiry.
He said: "I apologise for the fact that the intelligence we received was wrong.
"I also apologise for some of the mistakes in planning and, certainly, our mistake in our understanding of what would happen once you removed the regime."
Asked if the war was the "principle cause" of the rise of the Islamic State militant group, he replied: "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."
BBC political correspondent Iain Watson said any apologies from Mr Blair were strictly limited.
Mr Blair's spokesman said: "Tony Blair has always apologised for the intelligence being wrong and for mistakes in planning. He has always also said and says again here that he does not however think it was wrong to remove Saddam.
"He did not say the decision to remove Saddam in 2003 'caused Isis' and pointed out that Isis was barely heard of at the end of 2008, when al Qaeda was basically beaten.
"He went on to say in 2009, Iraq was relatively more stable. What then happened was a combination of two things: there was a sectarian policy pursued by the government of Iraq, which were mistaken policies.
"But also when the Arab Spring began, Isis moved from Iraq into Syria, built themselves from Syria and then came back into Iraq. All of this he has said before."
