Iraq war was illegal, says Blair's former deputy

London - Tony Blair's deputy as prime
minister when Britain joined the invasion of
Iraq has said he believes the war was illegal,
days after a long-awaited report excoriated
Britain's role in the conflict.
John Prescott, number two in the Labour
government when Britain took part in the
US-led invasion in 2003, made the remarks
in a piece to be published in the Sunday
Mirror newspaper.
On Wednesday, the Chilcot report returned
a damning verdict on Britain's role in the
US-led war, finding it joined the conflict
before all peaceful options had been
exhausted and that judgements about Iraq's
capacities were "presented with a certainty
that was not justified".
'Sorrow, regret and apology'
It also disclosed Blair had written to then US
president George W. Bush that "I will be
with you, whatever" eight months before the
invasion.
Prescott, now a member of the House of
Lords, wrote: "I will live with the decision of
going to war and its catastrophic
consequences for the rest of my life.
"In 2004, the UN secretary-general Kofi
Annan said that as regime change was the
prime aim of the Iraq war, it was illegal.
"With great sadness and anger, I now
believe him to be right."
Blair this week voiced "sorrow, regret and
apology" over mistakes made in the conflict.
But he insisted the war was right and the
world was safer without toppled Iraqi
dictator Saddam Hussein.
Current Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has
apologised on behalf of the party for what
he called "the disastrous decision" to go to
war.
Some 150 000 Iraqi people were killed in the
six years after British and American troops
invaded, plunging the country into chaos
and creating fertile ground for jihadist
groups like the Islamic State.
A total of 179 British troops also died.