London, Jan 30, IRNA – Former prime minister Tony Blair has been widely criticised for showing a lack of remorse when giving evidence at the Iraq inquiry and leaving significant questions unanswered in leading Britain into the 2003 war.
Blair was heckled after spending Friday resolutely defending his controversial decision to join the US in invading Iraq, insisting he did not deceive the British public, that he was right to start the war and that he would do the same again.
Reg Keys, who lost his son in Iraq, said the former premier had an opportunity to apply “some soothing balm to some of the open wounds of grief” suffered by bereaved families, but was “quite remorseless, no regret at all.”
“Here is a man with a wealth of Middle Eastern experts at his fingertips, yet he chose to ignore all the advice and steamroller in. It had something of the flavour of a runaway train, he’d gone along with it and he couldn’t stop it,” Keys said.
Rose Gentle, whose 18-year old son Gordon was also killed in Iraq, questioned why Blair just did not say the truth, saying all she wanted to tell him was: “Why not put your hands up and say you made a mistake?”
“I don’t think we have learned anything new, and when the inquiry ends there’s not much we can do,” Gentle lamented after watching his performance for six hours.
Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal Democrats, which opposed the 2003 invasion, also said he was “not sure if people have learned that much which is substantially new.”
“I’ve been quite critical about the way in which the inquiry has been set up. I don’t think it’s been open and public enough,” Clegg said.
The British press was also very critical of Blair’s performance as well as the inquiry panel that allowed him to leave many unanswered questions, such as his pledges made to former US president George W Bush and over the claimed legality of the war.
The Times said the former British premier “brought trouble on himself by failing to show the contrition” his detractors wanted and that the inquiry “largely failed to breach his defences.”
The Guardian suggested he was allowed to slowly exert his “dominance” over the inquiry panel, saying it was turned into “a seminar on neoconservatism for slow learners.”
The Independent concluded that Mr Blair’s final words appeared to confirm that the removal of Saddam Hussein was always his plan, despite trying to justify the war on the basis of weapons of mass destruction that never existed.
The Daily Telegraph reported that despite the protests outside the inquiry calling for the former premier to be tried for war crimes, he was at his “most characteristically persuasive” when he talked about the potential “menace” had the war not taken place.
The Daily Mirror suggested Blair’s “legal expertise enabled him to swerve difficult areas with ease” but believed he was a “leader who made a calamitous misjudgement.”
The Daily Express warned that Blair’s version of events “just will not wash” while the Daily Mail said he was a man “who created his own truths.”