FORMER UK FOREIGN Secretary Jack Straw has said that bringing a regime change to Iraq was “never” a policy of the British government its its decision to invade the country.
Speaking on the final day of the Chilcot Inquiry, Straw said that although the British government might have wanted Saddam Hussein removed from power, it would have been “palpably illegal” to pursue such a goal. He added that he had “categorically” told former Prime Minister Toby Blair that such action would be against the law, reports the Telegraph.
“You could have the wish and desire to see regime change and within clear limits wanted to encourage that. But it could not be and was not an objective of British government policy,” he said.
Straw said that although he had “difference of emphasis” than Blair about how to deal with Iraq, he had been in agreement with Blair about trying to obtain UN backing of an invasion, the BBC reports.
Straw was one of several senior government figures recalled to the inquiry to give evidence to “fill in the gaps” of Blair’s original testimony.
He told the inquiry that, although he had a sense of “deep sorrow” about those who had died in Iraq, he still believed that the invasion was justified.
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