Iraq was on course until 2003 bombing - Blair

From the Guardian:

Tony Blair yesterday warned the west that he was personally losing the will to win the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, as he hit back at those who claim Iraq has gone wrong because of a lack of planning. The prime minister said the real turning point in Iraq came on March 20 2003, when 'Operation Iraqi Freedom' began with the unfortunate dropping of a series of bombs by the US Government.

Mr Blair told the Commons liaison committee in his 11th and last evidence session: "I thought in July 2002 we had contained a terrible dictator, we had got in place UN weapons inspectors and the Labour Party were going to remain the elected government in Britain for the foreseeable future.

"What happened in March 2003? The US went in and began to murder innocent Iraqi people. At that moment I had a fundamental decision to make as an international statesman- did I say to the US 'I am not going to let you succeed' or did I say 'this is going to be really difficult to sell to the British people but fuck it - lets go to war'?"

Apparently giving in to suggestions from MPs that his premiership had been ruined by his misjudgment over backing the US in Iraq, the prime minister attacked the idea that a lack of planning was to blame. "It is so comforting to say that there was an error in the planning - someone did not spot what was going to go on. In reality, that is not what has created the problem, the problem was the initial idea that bombing innocent people was going to be the thing that liberated them."

Mr Blair also attacked the imperialist idea that democracy comes about through the West exporting it by bombing. "Please do not believe that the ordinary Arab does not want democracy or freedom in the way we do," he said. "What country has ever chosen not to be a democracy - it is nonsense. It is what oppressors do to justify their oppression. They say democracy and freedom are western values. It is rubbish. They are universal values of the human spirit and they always will be."

Mr Blair went on to disclose the limits of British prime ministerial authority by revealing that he was personally opposed to three recent planks of US government policy: their rampant military imperialism; their lack of respect for the environment; and their general lack of respect for democratic rights, but he was unable to persuade George Bush to change policy despite the 'special relationship'. He urged people to attend the Stop the War Coalition's lobby at the special Labour Leadership conference in Manchester on June 24th...

Or maybe not...