Blair agrees Iraq is a disaster
Saturday, November 18, 2006
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Tony_Blair.jpg)
Veteran broadcast journalist Sir David Frost recently interviewed British Prime Minister Tony Blair for Al Jazeera English.
In the first episode of "Frost over the World", a series of weekly interviews broadcast on Al Jazeera English in Britain by Sky TV, Frost asserted that "Iraq had been pretty much of a disaster from the start".
Responding, Blair said difficulties arose from "a deliberate strategy with al-Qaeda with Sunni insurgents on one hand, Iranian-backed elements with Shia militias on the other, to create a situation in which the will of the majority for peace is displaced by the will of the minority for war".
In response, a Downing Street spokeswoman said that the Prime Minister had been misrepresented, and that, in responding to Frost, he had merely been acknowledging the question, not agreeing that Iraq was a disaster. She said it would be "disingenuous to portray that as an admission". Despite that, several broadsheet papers headlined the remark as an admission that Iraq had been a disaster and Sir Menzies Campbell, leader of the UK Liberal Democrat Party, demanded that Blair should now apologise.
Less than 24 hours later a Downing Street spokesman claimed Mr. Blair's "tongue had 'slipped'", and that Mr. Blair did not think Saddam Hussein's removal nor the invasion was a disaster.
Related news
- "Al Jazeera English news channel to go live today" — Wikinews, November 14, 2006
Sources
- Philip Webster. "Iraq war 'pretty much a disaster', Blair concedes" — Times, November 18, 2006
- George Jones. "Iraq invasion a disaster, Blair admits" — Telegraph, November 18, 2006
- James Kirkup and Gerry Peev. "Iraq war has been disaster, Blair admits on al-Jazeera" — Scotsman, November 18, 2006
- "Storm over Blair 'Iraq disaster' remarks" — CNN, November 18, 2006
- "Blair admits Iraq 'a disaster'" — Al Jazeera English, November 18, 2006