5 damning revelations about the UK's intervention in the Iraq war
LONDON -- The Chilcot Inquiry has issued a damning indictment of how the UK, with former Prime Minister Tony Blair at the forefront, joined the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq without a satisfactory legal basis or proper planning.
The 2.6 million word report concluded the UK chose to join the invasion of Iraq "before the peaceful options of disarmament had been exhausted" and without an imminent threat from Saddam Hussein.
A confidential memo sent by Blair to former U.S. President George W. Bush shows that the then-British prime minister pledged to Bush that "I will be with you, whatever" on the invasion of Iraq.
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But Blair's justification, planning and conduct of a military intervention went "badly wrong, with consequences to this day," said Sir John Chilcot, chairman of the inquiry.
Here are the details behind five indictments of the UK in the invasion of Iraq.
1. Blair was warned that a war in Iraq would increase the risk of terrorism
In February and March 2003, just before the Iraq invasion, the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) warned Blair that the threat of terrorism to the West would be heightened by military action against Iraq. Blair was also warned that an invasion "might lead to Iraq’s weapons and capabilities being transferred into the hands of terrorists," Chilcot said.
2. Blair suggested that Bush 'add the al Qaida link' to persuade British public opinion
On July 28, 2002, Blair sent a note to Bush pledging "I will be with you, whatever." The purpose was to persuade him to build a coalition at the UN for action against Iraq.
The former UK prime minister showed Bush he was keen for military action and even drafted a strategy to help convince the British public: “If we recapitulate all the WMD evidence; add his attempts to secure nuclear capability; and as seems possible, add on the Al Qaida link, it will be hugely persuasive over here. Plus..the abhorrent nature of the regime.”
3. Blair said Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) were the 'immediate justification for action'
Discussing the goal of a U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, Blair said on March 26, 2003, that the "fundamental goal" should be to "spread our values of freedom democracy, tolerance and the rule of law, but we need a broad based agenda capable of unifying the world to get it. That’s why, though Iraq’s WMD is the immediate justification for action, ridding Iraq of Saddam is the real prize."
Blair's ambitions were big: “This is the moment when you can define international priorities for the next generation – the true post-Cold War world order. Our ambition is big – to construct a global agenda around which we can unite the world.”
The Chilcot report concluded that the British intelligence produced "flawed" information about Saddam's WMD.
4. Chilcot directly contradicted Blair's assumption that hindsight was required to know difficulties of post-war Iraq
Blair told the inquiry that with hindsight "we now see that the military campaign to defeat Saddam was relatively easy; it was the aftermath that was hard. At the time, of course, we could not know that and a prime focus throughout was the military campaign itself."
But the Chilcot report strongly stated that the risks of "internal strife in Iraq, active Iranian pursuit of its interests, regional instability, and Al Qaida activity in Iraq, were each explicitly identified before the invasion.”
“Ministers were aware of the inadequacy of U.S. plans.”
In a letter to Bush on June 2, 2003, after the start of the invasion, Blair wrote: "This is worse than re-building a country from scratch."
5. UK forces lacked equipment and planning
Chilcot concluded that the planning and preparations for Iraq after Saddam Hussein were "wholly inadequate."
The ministry of defence was "slow in responding" to the threat posed by IEDs (improvised bombs) and delays in providing adequate medium weight protected patrol vehicles should not have been tolerated.
“The government’s preparations failed to take account of the magnitude of the task of stabilising, administering and reconstructing Iraq, and of the responsibilities which were likely to fall to the UK," Chilcot reported.
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