Former prime minister Sir Tony Blair has said in an interview that he thought his invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq were the “right thing” to do at the time.
Blair, who served as Prime Minister from 1997 to 2007, seemingly attempted to justify his controversial role in the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq by saying that, at the time, he thought it was the “right thing” to do.
The former Labour Party leader was commenting on the war in Ukraine, saying that it was important for governments to “act to prevent something” that will have negative effects in the future.
According to a report by the state-owned BBC, Blair told Archbishop Justin Welby of the Church of England that he thought both the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq were justified at the time, and that leaders have to do what they think is the right thing in such situations.
“When you’re faced with a situation in which you believe that the interests of your country demand that you stop something bad happening, it’s important that you stand for that, and that you take the action necessary to stop it,” Blair reportedly told the Archbishop of Canterbury.
“People often say over Iraq or Afghanistan that I took the wrong decision but you’ve got to do what you think is right,” he continued.
“Whether you are right or not is another matter,” he also claimed. “In those really big decisions you don’t know what all the different component elements are, and you’ve got to follow, in the end, your own instinct.”
He does not appear to have mentioned whether political leaders should face consequences when they get such momentous decisions wrong.
The supposedly retired politician said of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, which had only just begun at the time the interview was recorded, that it was “massively contrary to our interests to have a country, an independent sovereign country on the doorstep of Europe, essentially invaded and taken over.”
He added that, while it was not the place of an international leader to go around the world “rooting out evil”, an “enlightened view of self-interest means that it is better that you act to prevent something happening that ultimately will affect you”.
He also warned that, while he may have gotten some things wrong, the public should be far more concerned about politicians who rely on slogans to win popular support.
“The problem of politics is that in a world that is in fact very complex, people search for simplicity,” he reportedly said, arguing that people should “at least respect the fact of that complexity rather than reduce it to something that’s a simple slogan”.
“Because the politicians you really shouldn’t trust are the people that get up and tell you the simple slogans,” he concluded.
Paradoxically, Blair’s own rise to power was achieved through the use of such prominent slogans as “tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime” and “education, education, education”.
The former PM has previously claimed he feels “sorrow” and “regret” over certain aspects of the Iraq War.
The invasion was largely justified by the allegation that Saddam Hussein’s Iraq was in possession of so-called “Weapons of Mass Destruction”, or WMDs — an accusation that later turned out to be false and based on flimsy evidence.
Blair has not managed to avoid controversy since leaving office either, with the ex-Labour head branding those unjabbed against the Chinese coronavirus as “idiots” and “just irresponsible” late last year.
However, while Blair might not be shy about voicing disdain for certain segments of the British public, much of the public are not afraid of voicing their disapproval of him either.
More than one million people have signed a petition calling for a knighthood granted to the former prime ,inister during the New Year’s period to be revoked, for example.
“Tony Blair caused irreparable damage to both the constitution of the United Kingdom and to the very fabric of the nation’s society,” wrote the petition’s creator. “He was personally responsible for causing the death of countless innocent, civilian lives and servicement in various conflicts.”
“Tony Blair is the least deserving person of any public honour, particularly anything awarded by Her Majesty the Queen,” he concluded.