Blair attacks hunt for "scandal" over Iraq war decision
Posted: 09 February 2010 1052 hrs

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LONDON: Former British prime minister Tony Blair has lashed out at the hunt for a "scandal" and a "conspiracy" over his controversial decision to back the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Speaking 10 days after he gave evidence at Britain's latest inquiry into the war, Blair told US broadcaster Fox News on Monday that Britons had a "curious habit" which meant they could not accept others might hold different views.

"There's always got to be a scandal as to why you hold your view," he said.

"There's got to be a conspiracy behind it, some great deceit that has gone on, and people just find it hard to understand that it is possible for people to have different points of view and hold them reasonably for genuine reasons."

The ex-head of government sparked anger in Britain when he told the Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq conflict on January 29 that he had no regrets over removing Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Relatives of British troops killed in Iraq shouted "liar" and "murderer" at him as he left the London hearing, and the British press attacked his defiant insistence that he had done the right thing.

Britain provided the second largest contingent of troops to the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, with a deployment that peaked at 46,000.

It ended combat operations in Iraq in April 2009, when all but a handful of British troops started returning home. A total of 179 British service personnel were killed in the conflict.

In Monday's interview, Blair also rebuffed criticism that the removal of strongman Saddam from the region had emboldened Iran.

"When people say that Saddam was the strongman that was the brake on Iran, I say that was our policy through the 1980s," he told the broadcaster.

"We supported Saddam against Iran. The result was an Iran-Iraq war in which there were one million casualties."

The best way to deal with Iran was to encourage freedom and democracy in its neighbours such as Iraq, he argued.

"The very best way of dealing with (Iran's) extreme ideas is to put before people a better idea," added Blair, pointing to the example of democracy in neighbouring Iraq.

Iran announced plans on Sunday to step up its uranium enrichment, a move that heightened tensions with Western nations which fear the Islamic republic is trying to develop its own nuclear weapon.

Tehran insists its nuclear enrichment drive is purely peaceful.

- AFP/sc