But in this case Mr Blair did not regard the British people but the US president as the boss. As it was, however, Sir John gave a brisk half-hour statement, in which the name “Blair” featured roughly once a minute. That, however, is not the tradition in which Mr Blair has ever placed himself. Regime change was the unabashed objective of the White House, and by hitching himself to Washington with no get-out clause, Mr Blair effectively made that his policy too. The faith-based failure to plan for the invasion’s aftermath, rightly damned in trenchant terms by Sir John, was the most catastrophic for the Iraqi people, and indeed for the British service personnel in harm’s way.

Source: The Guardian July 06, 2016 19:05 UTC