WEST WORCESTERSHIRE MP Harriett Baldwin has said lessons must be learnt after a damning inquiry criticised the UK’s former Labour Government for wrongly going into war against Iraq more than a decade ago.
Sir John Chilcot outlined his findings on the UK’s involvement in the 2003 Iraq War in a critical report, containing more than 2.3 million words, spanning almost a decade of UK government policy decisions between 2001 and 2009.
It covers the background to the decision to go to war – made by then Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Government and whether troops were properly prepared, how the conflict was conducted and what planning there was for its aftermath, a period in which there was intense sectarian violence.
A summary of the key findings detailed how:
– The UK chose to join the invasion of Iraq before all peaceful options for disarmament had been exhausted.
– Military action might have been necessary later, but in March 2003 (when UK went into war), it said, there was no imminent threat from the then Iraq leader Saddam Hussein, the strategy of containment could have been adapted and continued for some time.
– Policy on the Iraq invasion was made on the basis of flawed intelligence assessments. It was not challenged, and should have been.
– Judgements about the severity of the threat posed by Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction were presented with a certainty that was not justified.
The shocking findings of the report have potentially damaged Mr Blair’s reputation with the former Prime Minister possibly facing legal action from those who lost loved ones during the war.
Mrs Baldwin, MP for West Worcestershire, who at the time of the war outbreak was not an MP, said she felt for the families who had suffered pain and heartache from the decision to go into war.
“The Chilcot report is a detailed overview of the steps Tony Blair’s Government took to make the case to invade Iraq,” she said.
“My thoughts are with the families who lost loved ones as a result of this conflict.
“This is an extensive report and it is important that we learn the lessons of history or we are condemned to repeat them.”
An emotional Mr Blair told the nation’s media in a statement he felt, at the time, it was right for the country to go to war.
“I can regret the mistakes and I can regret many things about it but I genuinely believe, not just that we acted out of good motives, and I did what I did out of good faith, but I sincerely believe that we would be in a worse position if we hadn’t acted that way,” he said.
“I may be completely wrong about that.”
