Gordon Brown defends Iraq war but "saddened" by victims (2nd Roundup)

By Anna Tomforde Mar 5, 2010, 17:12 GMT

London - Gordon Brown negotiated a political minefield Friday by declaring his full backing for the 2003 invasion of Iraq while expressing regret for the loss of life among the military and Iraqi civilians.

In a careful balancing act, the British prime minister clearly had the forthcoming general election in mind when he sought to justify the highly unpopular war while paying tribute to its victims.

His four-hour testimony to Britain's Iraq War Inquiry was in stark contrast to that given in January by his predecessor, Tony Blair, who caused relatives among the audience to burst into tears when he refused to show any sign of regret.

In what commentators said was a confident and well-prepared performance, Brown brushed aside accusations of underfunding for the military and said the conflict was necessary to uphold international law.

He said that 'tackling' Iraq was a 'test for the authority of the international community' after the end of the Cold War era as new institutions were being created to meet the challenges of a new world order.

'I think it was the right decision and made for the right reasons,' Brown said.

As Chancellor of the Exchequer at the time, Brown was the second most powerful member of the cabinet, as well as being the man holding the purse strings. He succeeded Blair as prime minister in 2007.

Brown said he had been 'in the loop' about all major decisions taken in the run-up to the invasion, but added that he was not told about Blair's 'private exchanges' with former US President George W. Bush.

He had not seen 'private letters' which Blair exchanged with Bush in the run-up to the conflict, nor had he been informed about what Blair and Bush discussed at their meeting at Crawford, Texas, in April, 2002.

In marked contrast to Blair's appearance, Brown made a point of paying his respects to the 179 British soldiers who died. But he also mentioned the 'huge loss of life' among Iraqi civilians in the conflict, from which Britain withdrew in 2009.

'Any loss of life is something that makes us very sad indeed. We must bear this in mind in all decisions we make in the future.'

But he rejected accusations from the military, repeated ahead of his hearing, that cuts in the defence budget had added to the 'loss of life' in Iraq.

He had told Blair as early as 2002 that 'money was no object' if it should come to military action. 'I told him that I would not ... try to rule out any military option on the grounds of costs, quite the opposite.'

Brown said the six-year Iraq war had cost Britain 8 billion pounds (12 billion pounds).

However, he insisted that the British government only took the decision to join the US in the invasion after the diplomatic route had been completely exhausted.

'Rogue' states which were posing a threat to the international community had to be given a clear message that they could not 'do what they like,' said Brown.

'There will be interventions in the future, and international cooperation has got to be greater than it was,' said Brown. 'Global problems require global solutions.'

Blair, by contrast, had placed his defence of the invasion firmly in the context of the danger emanating from former dictator Saddam Hussein and his alleged weapons of mass destruction - which were hardly mentioned at Friday's session.

Outside, protestors shouted: 'Gordon Brown to The Hague,' in a reference to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Dutch capital.

'We want to ensure that he cannot present himself as an innocent bystander when Blair took Britain into a war that slaughtered hundreds of thousands of Iraqis,' said Lindsey German of Britain's Stop the War coalition.

'Gordon Brown has as much blood on his hands as Tony Blair for the illegal war in Iraq ... he was paymaster for the war,' she said.

Susan Smith, whose son Philip died in Iraq, aged 21, said she remained unconvinced about Brown's expression of sadness.

'To be honest, I just get the feeling that some of it is spin. I imagine he's genuinely sorry, but is it for political reasons that he said it?', she asked.