Tony Blair memoir lifts lid on Iraq

BRITAIN'S former prime minister Tony Blair published his memoirs yesterday, saying he had no regrets over the 2003 Iraq war but stressing he was "desperately sorry" for those who died.

Entitled "A Journey", the book is Blair's account of his decade in Downing Street from 1997 to 2007 and also features an unprecedented attack on his "strange" successor Gordon Brown, whose premiership he brands a disaster.

It details the personal toll the job took on him — including his use of alcohol as a "prop" — as well as his role in the aftermath of princess Diana's death in a car crash in 1997. However, it is Iraq — arguably the defining event of Blair's decade in power — which is at the book's heart. Speaking of his feelings for all those who died in Iraq, he suggested he had wept over the death toll of British and international soldiers, ordinary Iraqis and other casualties such as hostages. "Tears, though there have been many, do not encompass it," Blair wrote.

"I feel desperately sorry for them, sorry for the lives cut short... to be indifferent to that would be inhuman, emotionally warped."

But he insisted that he "can't regret the decision to go to war" as he again outlined the case for the conflict. "All I know is that I did what I thought was right," he added.

Blair did, though, acknowledge that the period after the invasion was far worse than anticipated.

"The aftermath was more bloody, more awful, more terrifying than anyone could have imagined," he said.

"I can say that never did I guess the nightmare that unfolded, and that too is part of the responsibility." He praised the "genuine integrity" and "political courage" of the then US president George W. Bush, with whom he stood shoulder-to-shoulder over Iraq.

And in a BBC interview being broadcast Wednesday to publicise the book, Blair adds that the international community should be prepared to consider taking military action against Iran if it develops a nuclear weapon.

"I am saying that I think it is wholly unacceptable for Iran to have a nuclear weapons capability and I think we have got to be prepared to confront them, if necessary militarily," he said, according to pre-released extracts.AFP