前英首相就伊拉克戰爭若干“錯誤”道歉

Former British Prime MInister Tony Blair has apologized for what he calls "mistakes" made during the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

In an interview with cnn, Blair also cites that military intervention as a trigger for current conflicts in the region, including the rise of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

"Of course you can't say those of us who removed Saddam in 2003 bear no responsibility for the situation in 2015,'' he says.

While critical of the flawed information on weapons of mass destruction that led to the invasion, as well as "for some of the mistakes in planning and, certainly, our mistake in our understanding of what would happen once you removed the regime" of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, Blair did not fully apologize for the war.

"I find it hard to apologize for removing Saddam. I think, even from today in 2015, it is better that he's not there than that he is there," Blair said.

Britain committed the second largest number of troops to the invasion - 45,000. They joined nearly 150,000 American soldiers and several thousand more from Australia, Spain and Poland.

Of the British forces, 179 were killed during the conflict.前英國首相布萊爾就美國領導的攻打伊拉克行動期間他所稱的“錯誤”表示道歉。

布萊爾在接受美國有線電視新聞網的採訪中說，軍事幹預引發了當前中東地區的衝突，包括伊斯蘭國組織在伊拉克和敘利亞的崛起。他說：“當然，不能說我們這些2003年罷黜薩達姆侯賽因的人對2015年的局勢毫無責任。”

布萊爾說，引發攻打伊拉克的大規模殺傷性武器情報有誤，戰爭計劃也有錯誤，而且在罷黜薩達姆政權後可能出現的局勢也有錯誤理解。但是他沒有就伊拉克戰爭全面道歉。他說，不可能對罷黜薩達姆致歉，即使在2015年的當今回顧，推翻薩達姆也比讓他繼續執政要好。

布萊爾當年派4萬5千英國軍隊參加聯軍，規模僅次於美國。美國出兵15萬人，澳大利亞、西班牙和波蘭分別出兵數千人。

179名英國軍人在伊拉克戰爭中喪生。