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Tony Blair Faces Grilling Over Iraq War

Ex-prime minister to be questioned on WMDs, promises to Bush

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Jan 29, 2010 1:23 AM CST

(Newser) – The decision to send British troops to join the US invasion of Iraq was by far the most controversial of Tony Blair's leadership, and his place in history may depend on how well he defends it today. The former prime minister will face 6 hours of grilling from inquisitors about when he committed Britain to the war, whether or not he manipulated intelligence on weapons of mass destruction, and if he strong-armed his attorney general into declaring the war legal.

Blair's testimony will be the climax of the inquiry, which began late last year. Large numbers of anti-war demonstrators, including family members of some of the 179 British troops killed in Iraq, plan to demonstrate outside. Blair—who wrote that he believed "beyond doubt" that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction in a foreword to a 2002 intelligence dossier used to justify the war—is expected to argue that he still believes he made the right decision, the BBC reports.

[Images (2)]

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Tony Blair speaks at a forum in Saudi Arabia earlier this week. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

An anti-war protester wearing a Tony Blair mask poses for the photographers outside the conference center where the Iraq war inquiry is taking place in central London (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

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It's a pivotal day for him, for the British public and for Britain's moral authority in the world. This is an enormous day and it goes way beyond him and his own reputation. - Anthony Seldon, a political commentator and Blair biographer

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Tony Blair Faces Grilling Over Iraq War