Lord Falconer admits Iraq war ‘mistake’
A senior British lawmaker admits his country’s participation in the US-led war on Iraq in 2003 was a mistake.
Charles Leslie Falconer, a life peer in the House of Lords and one of Ex-PM Tony Blair’s staunchest allies, has said the Iraq war was a mistake and that British forces should not have gone into Iraq in 2003.
Falconer, who shared a flat with the former prime minister in Edinburgh during the 1970s, became a minister under Blair’s government and a close political adviser. Falconer made regular television appearances defending both Tony Blair and the Iraq war.
But now he has come out, saying that he believes, "We didn't find weapons of mass destruction there and that was the basis by which we went in…so on that basis, we weren't right to go in…I think the Iraq war damaged Labour [party] everywhere, and I think that the Iraq war is perceived to be a mistake."
Blair had tried to convince the British public that the imminent invasion of Iraq was necessary and urgent, alleging that Iraq’s ex-dictator Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.
Labour lost a great number of its supporters, many of whom were disillusioned and angry at Tony Blair’s decision to invade Iraq.
Weeks before the Iraq invasion, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of Britain against the planned war.
Only in London, a massive protest march saw a reported number of some two million people on the streets.
The US-led invasion of Iraq left a huge trail of death and destruction.
LM/GHN
Russia launches 'ICBM' for first time against Ukraine: Kiev
UK government says Israel arms ban would 'undermine US confidence'
British activist on hunger strike in solidarity with Gaza
Israel kills 5 more paramedics in southern Lebanon: Health ministry
Iran to launch ‘new, advanced’ centrifuges in response to IAEA resolution: AEOI
Yemen fires hypersonic missile at Israeli airbase
VIDEO | New Delhi chokes under toxic smog as air quality remains at hazardous levels
VIDEO | Press TV's news headlines
VIDEO | ICC's arrest warrant for Netanyahu to worry Western politicians: Former British diplomat
Iranians protest against Israel after Netanyahu ICC warrant
Germany undecided on complying with ICC arrest warrants for Israeli war criminals
PressTV NEWSLETTER
now
This makes it easy to access the Press TV website
