Tony Blair’s ‘apology’ gives the game away

Tony Blair’s comments yesterday admitting fault in the invasion of Iraq are proof that the ongoing war, which Australia helped start in 2003, was an horrendous mistake.

The fact is we invaded Iraq on the basis of Saddam Hussein having weapons of mass destruction and links with Osama bin Laden, two claims which turned out to be entirely baseless and
patently misleading.

Now twelve and a half years later the war goes on, hundreds of thousands of people have died. It’s clear that the invasion of Iraq has directly contributed to the rise of Islamic State, something which now Tony Blair has conceded.

But no-one has been held to account.

John Howard and his government should be taken to task for Australia joining in the invasion of Iraq. And the subsequent Rudd-Gillard-Rudd-Abbott-Turnbull governments should also be held responsible for continuing Australia’s involvement in the region.

Australia’s bombing campaign in Syria is a particularly reckless move. All that taking sides in Syria does is to repeat the mistakes of the past and guarantee our involvement in this foreign policy and security disaster will continue for years to come.

The UK Chilcot Inquiry is due to report next year and hopefully it will shed more light on this terrible situation.

Australia needs a similar inquiry to ensure that those responsible, including a succession of Australian governments, are held to account.

Note: Andrew Wilkie was a senior intelligence analyst at the time of the 2003 invasion of Iraq and resigned in protest, arguing that the war was based on a lie and would have shocking consequences.

• John Martinkus in Comments: And it has had shocking results. Think about it, no power, no water, outbreaks of cholera as a result. For the average Iraqi, who hasn’t fled (and we are talking about at least four million who have fled from a population of twenty two million) daily life is punctuated by suicide bombings, lawlessness and kidnapping. And that is just as they try to go about their daily business. It is awful and now add to that the madness of ISIS. Really an inquiry, if ever one was needed, is needed now.

• Lambie calls for RAAF food drops over Syria to ease exodus and undermine Isis