Blair offers justification for Iraq war

[January 29, 2010]  LONDON (AP) -- Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Friday that the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks changed dramatically the approach to Iraq in both London and Washington, raising fears of terrorists acquiring weapons of mass destruction from rogue or failed states.

Giving evidence to Britain's sweeping inquiry into the Iraq war, Blair said his contentious decision to back the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq was fueled in part by fears of another, even deadlier, terrorist attack.

"It was that our perception that the risk had shifted," Blair said. "If those people inspired by this religious fanaticism could have killed 30,000, they would have. From that moment Iran, Libya, North Korea, Iraq ... all of this had to be brought to an end,"

The inquiry is Britain's third and widest-ranging investigation of the conflict, which triggered huge protests and left 179 British troops dead before the country's military withdrew from Iraq last year.

It is not intended to apportion blame or hold anyone liable for the conflict, but it does have the potential to embarrass officials in the U.S. and Britain who argued -- wrongly -- that the war was justified because Saddam was developing weapons of mass destruction and building close links with al-Qaida.

Blair appeared somber but composed as he began his scheduled six hours of testimony. An audience gathered in the inquiry's small room in a central London convention center included family members of soldiers and civilians killed or missing in Iraq.

Outside the building, demonstrators read the names of civilians and military personnel killed in the conflict. About 150 protesters clustered outside shouted slogans including "Jail Tony" and "Blair lied -- thousands died," as rows of police officers looked on.

The five-member panel pressed Blair on when exactly he offered U.S. President George W. Bush support for an invasion -- following earlier testimony which claimed he pledged backing in 2002, more than a year before Britain's Parliament approved military action.

Former British ambassador to Washington Christopher Meyer told an earlier hearing that an agreement had been "signed in blood" by Bush and Blair during a meeting at the president's ranch in Crawford, Texas, in April 2002.

"The only commitment I gave -- and I gave this very openly at the time -- was a commitment to deal with Saddam," Blair said. He said military options were discussed, but insisted he told Bush that Britain wanted to exhaust diplomatic routes before an invasion was considered.

Blair said he had not been determined from the outset to remove Saddam Hussein.

"The absolutely key issue was the WMD issue," not regime change, he said, but added that "if necessary -- and there was no other way of dealing with this threat -- we were going to remove him."

Blair said other world leaders did not share his and Bush's enthusiasm for confronting the WMD threat.

"Although the American mindset had changed dramatically (after Sept. 11) -- and frankly mine had as well -- when I talked to other leaders, particularly in Europe, I didn't get the same impression."

Blair acknowledged that the decision to join the war -- which led to the largest public protests in a generation in London -- had met with opposition in the country, and in his own Cabinet.

"The one thing I found throughout this whole matter from a very early stage is that I was never short of people challenging me on it," Blair told the panel.

On Friday, though, he chose to avoid confrontation. The ex-British leader arrived at the conference center in darkness shortly before 7 a.m. Friday, dodging demonstrators by entering the conference center through a cordoned-off rear entrance.

"Blair should not be here giving his excuses for the illegal war, he should be taken to The Hague to face criminal charges because he has committed crimes against the Iraqi people," said protester Saba Jaiwad, an Iraqi who opposed the war.

Blair, now envoy to the Quartet of Middle East peacemakers, used his appearance to offer a warning about the West's handling of Iran's nuclear program. He said concerns that terrorists could gain access to weapons of mass destruction had been deepened by Iran's pursuit of nuclear arms.

"I hold this fear stronger today than I did back then, because of what Iran is doing," Blair told the panel. "A large part of the destabilization in the Middle East today comes from Iran."

[Associated Press; By DAVID STRINGER and JILL LAWLESS]

Associated Press writer Gregory Katz contributed to this report

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