THE legal and political consequences must now be considered about “blundering” Tony Blair, who was responsible for the Iraq tragedy, Alex Salmond has said.
Responding to the Chilcot report, the former First Minister, who unsuccessfully sought to impeach the former Prime Minister in 2004, said: “Its forensic examination of thousands of pages of evidence and its firm conclusions are excoriating of a Prime Minister who, contrary to his denials, gave a pre-determined commitment to President Bush on 28 July 2002 to join US military action in Iraq.
READ MORE: Chilcot report: Tony Blair rushed ill-prepared troops to war with no imminent threat
“We now know that long before Parliament formally voted on whether or not to go to war in Iraq, Tony Blair had told George Bush: ‘I will be with you whatever.’”
The SNP’s foreign affairs spokesman said the subsequent actions of the then Prime Minister “blundered the country into a war,” which caused the deaths of 179 UK armed forces personnel, almost 200,000 Iraqi civilians and led the world into the present nightmare instability in the Middle East.
“It is shameful that the Chilcot Report found the UK's actions undermined the authority of the UN Security Council and the Prime Minister's lack of commitment to collective decision-making and his determination to stand with the US before diplomatic options had been exhausted, led the country prematurely to war. It is now clear from the report that military action was not the last resort as Blair stood in Parliament on 18 March 2003 to ask MPs to support his case for war,” argued Mr Salmond.
He went on: “When the Iraqi regime headed by Saddam Hussein was toppled, Chilcot has found that it was Tony Blair who increased the risk of the UK failing to react to the unexpected in Iraq and damaged the likelihood of achieving strategic objectives.”
READ MORE: Chilcot report: Holyrood urged to legislate to put Tony Blair on trial for Iraq war
The MP for Gordon emphasised how the report showed that there was no plan for the reconstruction of Iraq and for the provision of services to the Iraqi people; nor was there a plan to deal with the violence that exploded in the months following the invasion.
"In the days, weeks and months ahead, the intimate detail of this report will only implicate further a former Prime Minister who recklessly committed the country to war without collective judgement and personally failed to ensure there was a plan for delivering a future for the people of Iraq.”
READ MORE: Chilcot report: Tony Blair takes responsibility for Iraq 'mistakes' but made in 'good faith'
He added: "After such carnage, people will ask inevitable questions of was conflict inevitable and worthwhile? The answer from Chilcot is undoubtedly no. And who is responsible? The answer is undoubtedly Tony Blair. There must now be a consideration of what political or legal consequences are appropriate for those responsible."
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