{"id":4897,"date":"2011-02-12T17:43:46","date_gmt":"2011-02-12T16:43:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rogerdarlington.me.uk\/nighthawk\/?p=4897"},"modified":"2011-02-18T16:59:16","modified_gmt":"2011-02-18T15:59:16","slug":"tony-blairs-a-journey-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.rogerdarlington.me.uk\/nighthawk\/?p=4897","title":{"rendered":"Tony Blair’s “A Journey” (4)"},"content":{"rendered":"

I continue to read “A Journey” by Tony Blair<\/a>. Of course, the most memorable feature of his premiership was Britain joining with the United States in the invasion of Iraq. Blair devotes over 100 pages of the 700-page volume to the Iraq war. There are no new facts or revelations because there was no cover-up or conspiracy, but he does explain at length his thinking and motivations.<\/p>\n

There can be no doubt that Iraq was in breach of United Nations Security Council resolutions and Blair lists nine with which the regime was in non-compliance.\u00a0 Whether there was UN authority to invade is highly debatable legally but Blair makes his case. Whether there were weapons of mass destruction (WMD) was widely debated but mostly assumed to be the case.<\/p>\n

He records: “We the key allies had no doubt that Saddam had an active WMD programme” but concedes that: “The intelligence on Saddam and WMD turned out to be incorrect. It is said – even I have said – that how this came to be so remains a mystery.” Somewhat at odds with the ‘mystery’ remark, he adds: “The intelligence was wrong. We admitted it. We apologised for it. We explained it even.”<\/p>\n

He writes: “The military campaign of conquest was a brilliant success. The civilian campaign of reconstruction wasn’t” and concedes: “That the planning for the aftermath was inadequate is well-documented”.<\/p>\n

He writes: “So the aftermath was more bloody, more awful, more terrifying than anyone could have imagined. The perils we anticipated [use of WMD] did not materialise. The peril we didn’t [the insurgency] materialised with a ferocity and evil that even now shocks the senses.”<\/p>\n

He insists: “I can’t regret the decision to go to war” but adds: “I can say that never did I guess the nightmare than unfolded” and “The truth is we did not anticipate the role of al-Qaeda or Iran”. He concludes: “All I know is that I did what I thought was right. I stood by America when it needed standing by. Together we rid the world of a tyrant. Together we fought to uphold the Iraqis’ right to a democratic government.”<\/p>\n

Although British involvement in the invasion of Iraq is overwhelmingly associated with Blair as an individual, “A Journey” reminds that the decision was debated in the House of Commons and approved by 412 votes to 149.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"