Blair resolute about Iraq war

It was right thing, he says in book

By: JournalNow Staff | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: September 03, 2010

LONDON

Tony Blair, the former British prime minister, regrets banning fox hunting but not invading Iraq. He was captivated by Princess Diana, intimidated by Queen Elizabeth II. He heaps praise on President George W. Bush but calls his close colleague Gordon Brown a man of "zero" emotional intelligence. He acknowledges that some find him delusional, and says he possibly drank a bit too much.

Blair's long-awaited memoir hit bookstores this week, and the 700-page volume provides plenty of fodder for the former British leader's supporters -- and detractors.

Blair was paid a $7 million advance for A Journey, which recounts his voyage from political neophyte to youthful prime minister to admired, and then reviled, statesman.

Iraq is his most divisive legacy, but Blair says he is not sorry for his decision to enter the U.S.-led war -- although he wept for its victims. He is donating all proceeds from the book to a charity for wounded troops.

"I ... regret with every fiber of my being the loss of those who died," Blair writes. "Tears, though there have been many, do not encompass it."

But, he adds, "on the basis of what we do know now, I still believe that leaving Saddam in power was a bigger risk to our security than removing him."

He knows his position is unpopular: "Friends opposed to the war think I'm being obstinate; others, less friendly, think I'm delusional."

The book was selling briskly in British stores Wednesday and was No. 1 on Amazon's British best-seller list, though it was struggling to break the top 100 in the United States.

It also drew a protest by peace activists outside a London store. Lindsey German of the Stop The War Coalition branded Blair a war criminal and said the book was "trying to justify the unjustifiable."

Blair, 57, stepped down in June 2007 after 10 years that included a historic peace accord in Northern Ireland, the war in Iraq and the continuing conflict in Afghanistan.

For many Americans, he remains a valued ally who stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the United States in the fight against terrorism. He's scheduled to receive the 2010 Liberty Medal from former President Bill Clinton in Philadelphia on Sept. 13.