|
Blair faces Iraq apology demands
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-10-08 21:07 Tony Blair has returned from
Africa to a fresh rumpus over his justification for the Iraq war after a
minister gave the government's first direct apology for faulty intelligence on
weapons of mass destruction.
Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt said she was "sorry" on behalf
of the prime minister and his government for the inaccuracy of information on
Saddam Hussein's armaments.
That sparked new calls for Blair to utter the word himself.
"The only apology that would count would be from the prime minister
acknowledging the government took us to war on a flawed prospectus," said
Menzies Campbell, foreign affairs spokesman for the Liberal Democrats, the only
mainstream anti-war party.
"It is not the intelligence for which we need an apology, but the way in
which it was used," he said.
Britain's stance contrasts with that of U.S. President George W. Bush who has
so far declined to offer any apology over intelligence failures.
The furore over the war resurfaced after U.S. inspectors said on Wednesday
that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction.
Blair was questioned on Iraq at every turn during a trip to Sudan and
Ethiopia, which he had hoped would draw the world's attention to poverty and
instability in Africa.
Having defied widespread public opposition and backed Bush, Blair's ratings
have plummeted over Iraq although he is still expected to win a third term in
office at the next election, probably in May.
The Liberal Democrats called on Blair to make a statement on the findings of
the Iraq Survey Group (ISG) to parliament next week.
The opposition Conservative Party -- which vows to make the issue of trust a
key plank of the election campaign -- said the report was further evidence Blair
told lies.
The ISG report also piled pressure on Bush, with the November election
looking too close to call. Bush faces a TV debate with Democrat rival John Kerry
later on Friday.
BLAIR JUSTIFIES WAR
Hewitt, on the BBC's Question Time programme late on Thursday, apologised for
intelligence after members of the audience rejected her assertion that Blair
himself had done so.
"I certainly want to say that all of us, from the Prime Minister down, all of
us who were involved in making an incredibly difficult decision are very sorry
and do apologise for the fact that that information was wrong," Hewitt said.
Blair, asking parliament to back the 2003 invasion, said Iraq had weapons
ready for use and was a threat to UK interests.
Blair believes he has gone as far as he can to apologise for the
intelligence, and is desperate to move on.
Anxious to heal rifts in his Labour Party over Iraq, Blair told a party
conference last week intelligence had been "wrong".
"The problem is I can apologise for the information that turned out to be
wrong but I can't, sincerely at least, apologise for removing Saddam," he said
then.
| |
 |
|
|
|
|
Today's
Top News |
|
|
|
Top World
News |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
