Tony Blair: Iraq war contributed to rise of Islamic State
LONDON - Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has said the US-led invasion of Iraq was partly responsible for the emergence of the Islamic State militant group in the Middle East. But he insisted that toppling dictator Saddam Hussein had been the right thing to do.
Blair told CNN that "there are elements of truth" in the assertion that the war caused the rise of ISIS.
"Of course you can't say those of us who removed Saddam in 2003 bear no responsibility for the situation in 2015," he said in the interview to be broadcast Sunday. He added that the Arab Spring had also played a role in creating instability that allowed the Islamic fundamentalist militant group to flourish.
Blair's decision to take Britain into the Iraq war - based on what turned out to be false claims about Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction - remains hugely divisive, and contributed to his Labour Party's loss of power in 2010.
