Tony Blair Iraq Quotes & Sayings

We are asked now seriously to accept that in the last few years-contrary to all history, contrary to all intelligence-Saddam decided unilaterally to destroy those weapons. I say that such a claim is palpably absurd. — Tony Blair

There are literally thousands of sites. As I was told in Iraq, information is coming in the entire time, but it is only now that the Iraq survey group has been put together that a dedicated team of people, which includes former UN inspectors, scientists and experts, will be able to go in and do the job properly. — Tony Blair

The evidence about Saddam having actual biological and chemical weapons, as opposed to the capability to develop them, has turned out to be wrong. I acknowledge that and accept it. I simply point out, such evidence was agreed by the whole international community, not least because Saddam had used such weapons against his own people and neighbouring countries. — Tony Blair

There are unquestionably links between al Qaida and Iraq. — Tony Blair

I don't think it's surprising we will have to look for them. I'm confident that when the Iraq Survey Group has done its work we will find what's happened to those weapons because he had them. — Tony Blair

Britain, along with the U.S.A., is war weary, and after the travesty of Iraq and Afghanistan, has grave misgivings in any future involvement in the Middle East. The ghost of Tony Blair and his single-minded determination to attack Iraq, at any cost, has cast a long shadow over British politics. The British public have a long collective memory. — Paul Conroy

They could have been removed. They could have been hidden. They could have been destroyed. — Tony Blair

And the problem is, I can apologise for the information that turned out to be wrong, but I can't, sincerely at least, apologise for removing Saddam. — Tony Blair

Yes, I did have to struggle very hard to get this [the vote on the Iraq war] through, but the reason I did it was because I thought it was the right thing to do. I didn't take this on myself ... just because I thought, 'Let's give myself a really hard time for a couple of years! — Tony Blair

Tony Blair took us to war in Iraq on the basis of the supposed threat of Saddam's weapons of mass destruction. — Charles Kennedy

If we don't act now, then we will go back to what has happened before and then of course the whole thing begins again and he carries on developing these weapons and these are dangerous weapons, particularly if they fall into the hands of terrorists who we know want to use these weapons if they can get them. — Tony Blair

The intelligence is clear: (Saddam) continues to believe his WMD programme is essential both for internal repression and for external aggression. — Tony Blair

I have absolutely no doubt at all that we will find evidence of weapons of mass destruction programmes. — Tony Blair

I mean, you can agree or disagree with Iraq or Afghanistan, but by the way, now the great campaigning cause out there is the absence of intervention in Syria. And then in Libya, it's partial intervention. And that doesn't really explain why some countries that have literally nothing to do with the interventions in the Middle East end up getting targeted. — Tony Blair

My journalistic mission was straightforward: to await the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Nobody knew quite when this would be. But the diplomacy - the meetings in the U.N. security council, the allegations about weapons of mass destruction, the martial language of Tony Blair and George W. Bush - all suggested a war was brewing. — Luke Harding

Repressive states are developing weapons that could cause destruction on a massive scale. — Tony Blair

I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that the intelligence was genuine. — Tony Blair

We expected, I expected to find actual usable, chemical or biological weapons after we entered Iraq. — Tony Blair

I do think it's strange that I get associated with Iraq more than the people who were Foreign Secretary or Defence Secretary. It's because of my closeness to Tony [Blair], which I don't regret at all. I think that was a privilege. — Alastair Campbell

Tony Blair is a brilliant politician. Unfortunately, his legacy is entwined with George W. Bush because of Iraq. — Noel Gallagher

The money from Iraqi oil will be yours - it will no longer be used by Saddam Hussein for his own benefit — Tony Blair

It [the intelligence service] concludes that Iraq has chemical and biological weapons, that Saddam has continued to produce them, that he has existing and active military plans for the use of chemical and biological weapons, which could be activated within 45 minutes, including against his own Shia population; and that he is actively trying to acquire nuclear weapons capability ... — Tony Blair

What is true about (ex-Iraq Survey Group head) David Kay's evidence, and this is something I have to accept, and is one of the reasons why I think we now need a new inquiry - it is true David Kay is saying we have not found large stockpiles of actual weapons. — Tony Blair

It is absurd to say in respect of any intelligence that it is infallible, but if you ask me what I believe, I believe the intelligence was correct, and I think in the end we will have an explanation. — Tony Blair

George W. Bush and Tony Blair had to convince the world that Saddam Hussein represented an imminent threat. Tony Blair lied when he claimed that Iraq could launch a chemical or biological attack within 45 minutes. — Bianca Jagger

The only time I penetrated Tony Blair's defenses over Iraq was by keeping eye contact while telling him he never seemed to by sorry — Andrew Marr

What we also know is we haven't found them [weapons of mass destruction] in Iraq - now let the survey group complete its work and give us the report ... They will not report that there was no threat from Saddam, I don't believe. — Tony Blair

We promise that the events of 1991 will not happen again - we have pledged to remove Saddam and we will deliver — Tony Blair

It is convenient for Hillary Clinton and Tony Blair to say the rise of the Islamic State has nothing to do with the Iraq War because that takes the culpability off their shoulders. The Islamic State is a product of the Iraq War. It took about a 100 years to build the Iraqi state, and the Americans and the British destroyed it in an afternoon. — Vijay Prashad

The Iraq Survey Group has already found massive evidence of a huge system of clandestine laboratories, workings by scientists, plans to develop long range ballistic missiles. — Tony Blair

The view we took at the time and we take it now is that the war was justified legally because he [Saddam Hussein] remained in breach of UN resolutions. — Tony Blair

Unlike old-fashioned Britain, where Tony Blair recruited Lord Levy to encourage his 'Friends of Israel' to donate their money to a party that was just about to launch a criminal war, in America Alan Greenspan provided his president with an astonishing economic boom. It seems that the prosperous conditions at home divert the attention from the disastrous war in Iraq.
Greenspan is not an amateur economist, he knew what he was doing. He knew very well that as long as Americans were doing well, buying and selling homes, his President would be able to continue implementing the 'Wolfowitz doctrine' and PNAC philosophy, destroying the 'bad Arabs' in the name of 'democracy', 'liberalism', 'ethics', and even 'women's rights'. — Gilad Atzmon

In April 1991, after the Gulf war, Iraq was given 15 days to provide a full and final declaration of all its WMD. — Tony Blair

Retreat might give us a moment of respite but years of repentance at our weakness would, I believe, follow. — Tony Blair

The biological agents we believe Iraq can produce include anthrax, botulinum, toxin, aflatoxin and ricin. All eventually result in excruciatingly painful death. — Tony Blair

Tony Blair faced a massive defection from his own party ranks during voting around the intervention in Iraq. For our present purpose, the point is not that he survived the defection, but that he had to face it. — Stockwell Day

I don't concede it at all that the intelligence at the time was wrong. — Tony Blair

I think Tony Blair has to come down on one side or the other. You can't be a half-hearted supporter of the possible attack on Iraq. You're either with George Bush or you're against him. — Simon Hoggart