Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is answering questions at a public inquiry into the 2003 Iraq War. It is investigating the lead up to the conflict and Blair's justification for helping America invade Iraq.
John Laughland, director of studies at the Institute of Democracy and Cooperation in Paris, told RT that Blair has begun to admit that regime change was indeed the goal of the war – which he specifically denied at the time.
“Tony Blair more or less admitted that the basic goal of the war was regime change. Now this is exactly what all his enemies have always attacked him for,” John Laughland said. “And yet we’ve seen him today beginning to admit that in fact there was no distinction between the weapons of mass destruction issue and regime change – a distinction which he has done his best to uphold in the run up to the war.”
He has also added that Tony Blair appears to have been lying on many things.
“He specifically said only a few days before the war was launched that Saddam Hussein could remain in power if only he agreed to disarm, and on that as on many other things, Tony Blair was clearly lying,” John Laughland said.
Anti-war British MP Jeremy Corbyn, who pushed for Blair’s enquiry, wasn’t satisfied with his responses.
“I saw the soldiers’ families during a brake for lunch, and they were very angry with the sort of self-confidence and self-denial of Tony Blair. So far they are not satisfied or happy about this,” Corbyn told RT.
On the contrary, foreign editor of The Times Richard Beeston believes that Blair did a good job at the hearing.
“He looked nervous at first – being out of practice: being a Prime Minister of Britain you have to make comments once a week, which keeps you sharper. He was rattled a couple of times, but by and large it was a very professional performance of the type you would expect from him,” Beeston told RT .