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Tony Blair Calls for Brexit Rethink Despite Criticism Over Rash Iraq Invasion

© AFP 2023 / Jeff J MitchellFormer British prime minister Tony Blair
Former British prime minister Tony Blair - Sputnik International
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Ex-UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, has said 17 million people who voted to get out of the EU must look at all the alternatives before going through with Brexit, despite the fact that he was heavily criticized for failing to look at all the alternatives before invading Iraq in 2003, destabilizing the Middle East.

Britain voted to leave the EU in an In-Out referendum on June 23, by 52 percent to 48 percent. Blair has long been a Europhile and once wanted to follow other EU ex-prime ministers down the path of seeking high office in one of its institutions — Council or Commission president.

© AFP 2023 / Pornchai KittiwongsakulFormer British Prime Minister Tony Blair
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair  - Sputnik International
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair

He has now said the British were not given the chance to look at the whole picture and — although he says he accepts the will of the people — alternatives should be put to them which may lead to a rethink.

"You've got to accept the verdict of the people. When we held the referendum on June 23, we knew what we didn't like about the European Union and the country voted a particular way. We haven't yet seen the alternative. We don't know the details of it. We don't yet know the reality," he told the BBC Today program.

"We've had claim and counterclaim, but over these coming months and years we will be able to see what it is we are being offered and will be able to make an assessment of whether we're going to be better off, economically, socially, politically outside Europe, rather than inside it."

He said, "we should keep our options open" adding that the result of the referendum cannot be changed, unless it becomes clear that the British people have had a change of mind because "they've seen the reality of the alternative."

Pious Platitudes

His remarks are in sweeping contrast to his stubborn refusal to listen to anti-war protesters who staged some of the biggest protests in a generation against Britain joining the US in the invasion of Iraq in 2003 to topple Saddam Hussein.

© REUTERS / Jeff J MitchellSir John Chilcot presents The Iraq Inquiry Report at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre in Westminster, London, Britain July 6, 2016.
Sir John Chilcot presents The Iraq Inquiry Report at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre in Westminster, London, Britain July 6, 2016.  - Sputnik International
Sir John Chilcot presents The Iraq Inquiry Report at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre in Westminster, London, Britain July 6, 2016.

Blair was heavily criticized by the chair of the Iraq Inquiry into the run-up to the war, Sir John Chilcot, for failing to look at the alternatives ahead of the decision and rushing into the invasion without considering all the options and circumstances.

US President George W. Bush (R) and Britain’s Prime Minister Tony Blair pose for photographers prior a bilateral meeting 07 June 2007 on the sidelines of the G8 Summit in Heiligendamm, northeastern Germany. - Sputnik International
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Sir John said: "We have, however, concluded that the circumstances in which it was decided that there was a legal basis for UK military action were far from satisfactory. We have concluded that the UK chose to join the invasion of Iraq before the peaceful options for disarmament had been exhausted. Military action at that time was not a last resort."

"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," Sir John said.

The fact that Blair is now suggesting the British public were precipitous in rushing into a no vote, calling for a rethink to look at all the alternatives and consider the evidence will be taken by his critics as a sign of his complete cant and hypocrisy in the face of history, which he famously said would be his judge.

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