Sky News: British forces were committed to invading Iraq “before the peaceful options for disarmament had been exhausted”, a seven-year inquiry into the Iraq War has found.
In a 2002 letter to George W Bush – declassified and published for the first time – Tony Blair wrote: “I will be with you, whatever.”
As a result, the invasion was not the “last resort” presented to MPs and the British public, a report by Sir John Chilcot found.
Sir John said the legal basis for UK military action in Iraq was “far from satisfactory”, and the severity of the threat posed by Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction “were presented with a certainty that was not justified” by Mr Blair’s government.
Mr Blair “overestimated his ability to influence US decisions in Iraq”, and the consequences of the 2003 invasion were underestimated “despite explicit warnings”.
Sir John said the planning and preparation for the period after Saddam Hussein’s fall was “wholly inadequate”.
The UK’s military role in Iraq “ended a very long way from success”. It went “badly wrong, with consequences to this day”.
There was “little time” to properly prepare three military brigades for deployment, and the risks were neither “properly identified nor fully exposed” to ministers. The response to the threat of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) was also slow, he said.
The invasion was based on “flawed intelligence” which was not challenged, but “should have been”.
Mr Blair was also warned that military action in Iraq would increase the threat of al Qaeda to the UK.
In a statement, Mr Blair defended his decision, saying: “The report should lay to rest allegations of bad faith, lies or deceit. Whether people agree or disagree with my decision to take military action against Saddam Hussein; I took it in good faith and in what I believed to be the best interests of the country.”
He said the report had found that Cabinet was not deceived, and there was no falsification of intelligence.
But he added that he “will take full responsibility for any mistakes without exception or excuse”.
Former foreign secretary Jack Straw said “with the benefit of hindsight, different decisions would have been made in Iraq.”
He added: “The consequences which flow from the decision to take military action against Iraq will live with me for the rest of my life.”
Claims that the dossier presented to Parliament which led the nation to war had been “sexed up” were dismissed.
Alastair Campbell, the former Downing Street director of communications, wrote on his blog: “That is four inquiries now which have cleared me of wrongdoing with regard to the WMD dossier presented to Parliament in 2002, and I hope that the allegations we have faced for years – of lying and deceit to persuade a reluctant Parliament and country to go to war, or of having an underhand strategy regarding the respected weapons expert David Kelly – are laid to rest.
“The truth was – and remains, confirmed today – that the so called sexing up of intelligence never happened.”
Shortly before Sir John made his statement, pressure group the Stop The War Coalition began a “naming of the dead” ceremony outside the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in central London.
Ex-soldiers who served in Iraq joined leaders of the Stop the War Coalition, CND and other groups to demand “truth and justice”.
Representatives of the families of those killed in Iraq spoke after the report’s publication.
Sarah O’Connor, whose brother died in the conflict, said: “There is one terrorist in this world that the world needs to be aware of, and his name is Tony Blair. The world’s worst terrorist.”
Rose Gentle, whose son, Gordon Gentle, died while serving in Iraq with the Royal Highland Fusiliers, said: “I didn’t think we were going to get that verdict today but I’m really pleased.
“I hope he (Blair) goes to his bed and thinks ‘What the hell have I done?’ because he will never be forgiven.
“He will be remembered not as a Prime Minister but as a person who sent them on an illegal war. I would love to see him in court.”
Lindsey German, convenor of the Stop the War Coalition, said after Sir John’s statement: “Chilcot should not be the end of the matter – it must be the beginning of legal and political action against Blair.”
Senior Labour MP Frank Field, who voted for the war, said: “What is now clear is the total incompetence of Tony Blair in launching a war and having no plan for the day after the Iraqi regime was overthrown.
“That gigantic political error resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of Iraqis, as well as 179 British soldiers.”
The former Whitehall mandarin published his long-awaited report seven years after the Iraq Inquiry began and 13 years after British troops crossed into Iraq.
The relatives of the 179 British men and women who died in Iraq got advance sight of the report, which runs to 2.6 million words.
Announcing two days of House of Commons debates on the report next week, Prime Minister David Cameron said: “The most important thing to do is to clearly learn the lessons for the future, and the lessons he lays out quite clearly.
“If we are to take difficult decisions to intervene in other countries, then proper planning is vital.”
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the report showed the war was “an act of military aggression launched on a false pretext” and said the conflict has long been regarded as illegal.
He added that the “flimsy and conflicting” evidence on WMDs had in part led to a “fundamental breakdown in trust in politics”.
He did not mention Tony Blair by name, but has a speech scheduled later today when he may do so.
The Russian Embassy in London tweeted an image with the text: “Keep Calm But I Told You So”, alongside a message saying: “No real WMD in Baghdad, unjust & highly dangerous war. The entire region on the receiving end.”
In the aftermath of the report’s publication, a Twitter bot account was set up which will automatically tweet the entire 2.6m-word report – one tweet at a time.
