Corbyn says Tony Blair 'misled' MPs over Iraq invasion
UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has accused former prime minister Tony Blair of misleading MPs over the rationale for the invasion of Iraq.
The opposition leader launched a scornful attack on his predecessor Wednesday after the Chilcot Inquiry released its long-delayed report on Britain’s role in the Iraq war.
The report said that the legal basis for military action was “far from satisfactory” and that Blair based his case for war on “flawed intelligence” about Iraq’s supposed Weapons of Mass Destruction.
Corbyn, who did not vote for the war, called the invasion “an act of military aggression launched on a false pretext,” which “fueled and spread terrorism.”
Addressing MPs in the House of Commons, he said those who decided to launch the war “must face up to the consequences of their actions,” although he did not name any individual.
“We now know that the house was misled in the run-up to the war, and the House must now decide how it should deal with it 13 years later,” he said.
The UK parliament voted in March 2003 to support Blair’s decision to join the invasion of Iraq.
Corbyn called for “a more open and independent relationship with the United States,” but stopped short of criticizing the administration of former president George W. Bush.
It has long been rumored that Blair had offered strong backing to the Bush administration during his private dealings with the US president as planning was already underway for the invasion.
The inquiry revealed that Blair promised Bush, “I will be with you, whatever.”
Blair’s government sent 120,000 members of the British armed forces and civilians to Iraq. A total of 179 British personnel were killed in the war.
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