Iraq war 'will haunt Blair's legacy like Suez'

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Iraq war 'will haunt Blair's legacy like Suez'

By Nigel Morris, Home Affairs Correspondent
02 May 2005
The Independent

Tony Blair was warned that his place in history will be "haunted" by Iraq, after fresh evidence emerged that he was secretly planning to join a US-led war against Saddam Hussein eight months before the invasion.

Leaked Downing Street papers disclosed yesterday that the Prime Minister was privately contemplating "regime change" in Iraq in July 2002, while publicly insisting Saddam could avoid war if he complied with United Nations resolutions.

The documents will bolster accusations by the war's opponents that Mr Blair agreed to support military intervention at a meeting with George Bush at the President's Texas ranch back in April 2002, a charge denied by the Government.

In a further blow , the Chief of Defence Staff at the time of the war, Admiral Sir Michael (now Lord) Boyce, expressed his concerns the war might have been illegal.

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=634942