from the Guardian UK:
Tony Blair admits: I would have invaded Iraq anyway
WMD were not vital for war says ex-PM ahead of appearance at Chilcot inquiryRiazat Butt and Richard Norton-Taylor
The Guardian, Saturday 12 December 2009
Tony Blair has said he would have invaded Iraq even without evidence of weapons of mass destruction and would have found a way to justify the war to parliament and the public.
The former prime minister made the confession during an interview with Fern Britton, to be broadcast on Sunday on BBC1, in which he said he would still have thought it right to remove Saddam Hussein from power.
"If you had known then that there were no WMDs, would you still have gone on?" Blair was asked. He replied: "I would still have thought it right to remove him
".
Significantly, Blair added: "I mean obviously you would have had to use and deploy different arguments about the nature of the threat." He continued: "I can't really think we'd be better with him and his two sons in charge, but it's incredibly difficult. That's why I sympathise with the people who were against it for perfectly good reasons and are against it now, but for me, in the end I had to take the decision." ..........(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/dec/12/tony-blair-iraq-chilcot-inquiry