Blair: Iraq war contributed to rise of IS,
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Blair: Iraq war contributed to rise of IS,
CNN wrote:LONDON (AP) — Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has said the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq was partly responsible for the emergence of the Islamic State militant group in the Middle East. But he insisted that toppling dictator Saddam Hussein had been the right thing to do.
Blair told CNN that "there are elements of truth" in the assertion that the war caused the rise of IS.
"Of course you can't say those of us who removed Saddam in 2003 bear no responsibility for the situation in 2015," he said in the interview to be broadcast Sunday. He added that the Arab Spring had also played a role in creating instability that allowed the Islamic fundamentalist militant group to flourish.
Blair's decision to take Britain into the Iraq war — based on what turned out to be false claims about Saddam's weapons of mass destruction — remains hugely divisive, and contributed to his Labour Party's loss of power in 2010.
Blair said he did not believe the world would be a better place if Saddam were still in power. But he apologized, as he has before, for failures in post-war planning.
"I apologize for the fact that the intelligence we received was wrong," he said in clips released by CNN before the broadcast.
"I also apologize for some of the mistakes in planning and, certainly, our mistake in our understanding of what would happen once you removed the regime."
Some 179 British personnel died in Iraq between 2003 and 2009. A public inquiry into decisions and mistakes in Britain's planning and execution of the war began in 2009 but has yet to issue its findings. The process has been held up while people criticized in the report are given a chance to respond.
Critics of the war hope the inquiry will conclude that Blair was determined to back President George W. Bush in his invasion plans, whether or not it was supported by the public, Parliament or legal opinion.
Mistakes in intelligence? I don't think so. You don't invent fabrications about WMDs, and then toss it off as "mistakes".
It took some intentional. conscious creativity to invent those lies. Let's hear about your creative efforts, Tony. That's what we're really interested in.
ISIL is the mistake. It is the reincarnation of the Baath Party goons of Saddam's. It wasn't intended, but it could easily have been foreseen.
Original Quill- Forum Detective ????♀️
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Re: Blair: Iraq war contributed to rise of IS,
I agree! with you Quill.
nicko- Forum Detective ????♀️
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Re: Blair: Iraq war contributed to rise of IS,
blairs apology is more to pre-empt the #chilcott report where he and his government it would appear is going to get a total pasting.
getting rid of saddam was an admirable thing to do, the man was quite the monster, not to plan for what came after was gross incompetence.
The fact was the mission in iraq seemed to change almost weekly and the troops there were truly being lead by bunch of political idiots without a clearly defined idea what came next.
getting rid of saddam was an admirable thing to do, the man was quite the monster, not to plan for what came after was gross incompetence.
The fact was the mission in iraq seemed to change almost weekly and the troops there were truly being lead by bunch of political idiots without a clearly defined idea what came next.
The Devil, You Know- Forum Detective ????♀️
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Re: Blair: Iraq war contributed to rise of IS,
Dean wrote:getting rid of saddam was an admirable thing to do, the man was quite the monster, not to plan for what came after was gross incompetence.
I have been saying this for years. You don't go to war without an endgame. Actually, Bush the senior, knew this and pulled out of Iraq I. Bush the junior was a complete idiot, so Iraq II became a permanent mission.
Dean wrote:The fact was the mission in iraq seemed to change almost weekly and the troops there were truly being lead by bunch of political idiots without a clearly defined idea what came next.
That's precisely what happens when you leave the generals in charge of a war. Warfare is an extension of political policy. Carl von Clausewitz, On War (1832). If you leave the generals in charge, they will find more reasons for continuing...because that's what they do!!
War is secondary to policy; the people who are in charge of policy have to have an endgame.
We have no reason being in the Middle East, right today. It's a religious civil war between Sunnis and Shi'ites. We have no purpose, and so we would have no endgame. It's their war and it won't be over until they devise an endgame of their own.
Original Quill- Forum Detective ????♀️
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Re: Blair: Iraq war contributed to rise of IS,
That's twice i'v agreed with you Quill.
nicko- Forum Detective ????♀️
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Re: Blair: Iraq war contributed to rise of IS,
Stormee wrote:Use more drones and air attacks, keep troops off the ground as much as possible.
Yeah, death to newlyweds!
Re: Blair: Iraq war contributed to rise of IS,
Stormee wrote:Use more drones and air attacks, keep troops off the ground as much as possible.
I tend to agree more with Ben. Drones and F-18s...when we don't know who we are going up against??? That makes no sense.
In the case of Syria, so far from having no endgame, we don't even have a begin-game.
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