The long-awaited Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq War was published on Wednesday, with the report concluding that Britain went to war before all peaceful options had been exhausted.
Chairman of the inquiry John Chilcot found that military action was not a last resort in the Iraq war, and that a lot of “flawed intelligence” came into play to influence the decision to go to war.
The 2.6 million-word report also holds then UK Prime Minister Tony Blair responsible for sending British forces to Iraq. It also found Blair told the then U.S. President George Bush he would be “with you, whatever” in regards to Iraq, several months before launching the invasion in March 2003.
Blair acknowledged the criticisms of the inquiry, but defended his position by claiming that the world is a safer place without the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
Hundreds of protestors gathered at London's Queen Elizabeth II Center upon the release of the report, including family members of soldiers who were killed in action during the war.
“At the moment the main feeling for me is anger at what's come out from this report. Of what I've read, it's only 150 pages, but from what I've read, it's mainly anger. Because it says in black and white in this report, in 2003, there was no threat from Sadam Hussein,” said Elaine Fairley, who lost her brother in the war.
One hundred and seventy-nine British soldiers lost their lives during the Iraq war and protestors channelled their anger directly towards Blair and former U.S. President George W. Bush.
“The Chilcot Inquiry that has been released, he (Blair) has misled the country. He wanted to go to war even before bringing the issue to parliament. He made a deal with George Bush before. Hundreds of British soldiers are dead now for a war which shouldn't have happened and the region as the whole is a far more unstable place with wars and ongoing terrorism. And for all of this, Tony Blair should hang his head in shame. It's him and George Bush who've made the world a much, much unsafer place,” said protestor Matt Myers.
Even one former soldier who served in the war said he regrets being part of the invasion.
“I'm very ashamed that we had to take part in something that was so illegal and so immoral. At the time when I joined the army I was very a very young lad. I was only 18 years old, ended up in the conflict around 19, maybe 20 years old. As a child, through a very young person's eyes, you don't really see the injustice. It's very much in retrospect that I saw what had happened, it didn't feel right when I was there. I'm very sad about what we did in Iraq,” said Daniel Taylor, an Iraq war veteran
Current Prime Minister David Cameron said the report should be studied and its lessons learnt for the future.