Blair misled MPs on Iraq war: papers
Blair misled MPs on Iraq war: papers
By Europe correspondent Emma Alberici
Posted 10 hours 40 minutes ago
Updated 5 hours 39 minutes ago
Troops in Basra: the leaked reports reveal that Britain was not prepared for war
Troops in Basra: the leaked reports reveal that Britain was not prepared for war (AFP: Toby Melville)
Secret British government papers reveal that former prime minister Tony Blair misled MPs and the public about the reasons the country was going to war in Iraq.
Britain's Sunday Telegraph has published correspondence between military commanders and their political masters.
The correspondence shows that in July 2002, Mr Blair told the public and MPs that Britain's objective in Iraq was "disarmament, not regime change", and that there had been no plan for military action.
But the documents reveal that a full invasion of Iraq was being planned five months earlier.
The leaked reports also reveal that Britain was not prepared for war and was under-equipped when the invasion began in 2003.
The need to conceal that fact had "constrained" the planning process and the result was a "rushed" operation "lacking in coherence and resources", which caused "significant risk" to troops and "critical failure" in the post-war period.
The revelations come two days before public hearings begin in the Iraq inquiry.
