Iraq War continues to haunt Tony Blair

Tony Blair, British Prime Minister for a decade between 1997 and 2007, was one of the world politicians highly respected everywhere up to the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. Until then, he had the potential to be in the company of the statesmen of contemporary history. The second Gulf War or the US invasion of Iraq changed his place from that high pedestal to what many cartoons of the time depicted, a poodle of President GW Bush.

It is indeed a great pity that a politician with such potential for a place in history now finds himself placed not with men of glory but with those who have done things they cannot be proud of. The poodle cartoons of the time had given the former Prime Minister the image of a lackey of President GW Bush in a war that was controversial and unpopular from the beginning. As facts about the way the Iraq invasion war was carried out became public over the years, Tony Blair's insulting poodle image worsened as it became evident that he had lied badly and blatantly to take his country to war in Iraq that the majority of the people of Great Britain opposed.

Tony Blair took a belated step to try and correct his deplorable image he has been carrying about himself because of the way he conducted himself in the events concerning  the invasion of Iraq by the US and its allies. On Sunday (October 25, 2015), he gave an interview to CNN conducted by Fareed Zakaria in which he spoke about the war. He admitted the US/allies made mistakes in invading Iraq in 2003 and apologised for it. Among the mistakes, he said that the intelligence that the US/allies had received that Saddam Hussein regime possessed weapons of mass destruction (WMD) was wrong. Tony Blair explained though that the fact that the regime had used chemical weapons extensively against its own people led the US/allies to believe that he also possessed WMDs.

The former British Prime Minister also admitted that there was "element of truth" that the invasion of Iraq was "the principal cause for the rise of ISIS." He however underlined that he and those responsible for deciding to invade Iraq "would bear no responsibility for the situation in 2015" adding, first ISIS was born not in Iraq but Syria, and second "that the Arab Spring which began in 2011 would also have had its impact on Iraq today." Thus, in the interview, Tony Blair stopped short of making a full apology for the Iraq invasion because he felt he found it "hard to apologise for removing Saddam."

Fareed Zakaria, known for his incisive interviews of world leaders, did not mince words when he asked Tony Blair point blank his views on the charge against him that he was a "war criminal". In response to the charge he said that he had done what he had thought was right at the time and added: "Now, whether it's right or not, that's for -- everyone can have their judgment about that."

Tony Blair gave the interview to CNN aware that the Iraq War has become a major issue in the US presidential election. Majority Americans now believe that the war was a mistake. The Republicans, concerned that the Iraq war issue would be a major one for the presidential election, are explaining it as a right one because it succeeded in ending the regime of Saddam Hussein. For the present situation in Iraq, including the rise of ISIS, they blame President Obama for his decision for withdrawing combat troops from Iraq in 2011 against the advice of the military. Tony Blair's position on the invasion of Iraq thus is eerily close to that the Republicans are taking in the US presidential election.

Unfortunately Tony Blair's conditional apology for the Iraq invasion does not acknowledge or answer some very fundamental questions about what happened to the lives of ordinary Iraqis as a result of the invasion. The invasion resulted in human costs of humungous proportions borne almost exclusively by the same Iraqis who were the victims of Saddam's rule. Nearly 400,000 innocent Iraqi men, women and children were killed by the invasion. The lives of those who lived were not better but worsened. In fact, given by what is now known about what the invasion did in human costs compared to what life for Iraqis was under Saddam's regime, the case speaks for itself in favour of the dictator.

It is not that just Iraqis were killed as a result of the invasion; over 4000 US men and women in uniform were also got killed. The United States itself put trillions of dollars into the Iraq invasion with practically no positive outcome. Instead, its financial involvement was a principal reason that pushed the United States and Europe into economic recession - in case of the United States, the worse since the great depression of the 1930s.

When history finally puts all these in perspective, will no doubt find the conditional apology that Blair has provided in his CNN interview unacceptable and dismiss it out of hand. The evidence against the invasion, the human costs of that war and the fact that the war was undertaken on lies and manipulated intelligence will undoubtedly place those involved in it, including Tony Blair, in a position worse than that of the war criminals who have been tried and convicted in the international courts.

In fact, the Iraq invasion is perhaps the only example of a modern war/invasion where the reasons cited for undertaking it have all the time appeared palpably fraudulent and were changed without any proper explanation. The initial reason under which the invasion was undertaken was President GW Bush's "war on terror" following the 9/11 attacks. The US/allies while in Afghanistan in pursuit of Al Qaeda for the 9/11 terrorist acts paused the war there and invaded Iraq giving the impression that it was a part of that war although it was not explained that way at that time. The WMD and regime change reasons were provided subsequently.

In invading Iraq, the US/allies in fact turned a country that may have had a very evil dictator but a country without terrorists of any kind, Islamic or otherwise, into what is now the new haven of the Islamic terrorists in the shape of ISIS. Tony Blair was not asked about this in the interview. Nevertheless, this will be a major point in evaluating his role and that of his fellow leaders who together decided to invade Iraq when history finally records the event. In that final analysis, the interview that Tony Blair gave to CNN will not change his legacy in pursuit of which he has given it in anyway. In fact, the interview that he has given in search of his legacy will push him into the list of villains of history because he has not yet come out with his involvement in the Iraq War honestly and truthfully.

The writer is a retired Ambassador.

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