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Chilcot report: Most damning quotes from long-awaited Inquiry

Protests: A demonstrator holds a placard branding Tony Blair a liar as the report's damning verdict was delivered
Jeremy Selwyn
Sebastian Mann
13 April 2018

Sir John Chilcot today presented his long-awaited findings of the Iraq Inquiry which dealt a hammer blow to former Prime Minister Tony Blair and his government.

The Inquiry chair said the UK mounted an invasion with the US "before the peaceful options for disarmament had been exhausted" and claimed military was not necessary when war was declared in March 2003.

Here are some of his key quotes:

  • "We've concluded that the UK chose to invade before the peaceful options for disarmament had been exhuasted. Miltary action at that time was not a last resort."

  • "It is now clear that policy on Iraq was made on the basis of flawed intelligence and assessments. They were not challenged, and they should have been."

  • Tony Blair "overestimated his ability to influence US decisions on Iraq"

  • "The judgements about the severity of the threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction - WMD - were presented with a certainty that was not justified."

  • "Despite explicit warnings, the consequences of the invasion were underestimated. The planning and preparations for Iraq after Saddam Hussein were wholly inadequate.​"

  • The legal basis on which military action was launched was "far from satisfactory".

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  • "The Armed Forces fought a successful military campaign, which took Basra and helped to achieve the departure of Saddam Hussein and the fall of Baghdad in less than a month.​"

  • "The invasion and its aftermath led to the deaths of 150,000 Iraqi, "most of the civilians".

  • "The Government's preparations failed to take account of the magnitude of the task of stabilising, administering and reconstructing Iraq, and of the responsibilities which were likely to fall to the UK."

  • "Military action in Iraq might have been necessary at some point, but in March 2003 there was no imminent threat from Saddam Hussein."

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Chilcot
Iraq War
Tony Blair