I won't say sorry for Iraq war, says Blair

A DEFIANT Tony Blair yesterday refused to apologise over claims that he had "misrepresented" the case for war with Iraq.

The British Prime Minister angrily rejected an accusation by Tory leader Michael Howard that he did not "accurately report" the intelligence on Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction.

As Iraq dominated the first Prime Minister's Questions since MPs returned to Westminster from their summer break, Mr Blair accused Mr Howard of "playing politics" with the war.

The Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy also sought to step up the pressure on Mr Blair, warning that the failure to find any banned weapons in Iraq had removed the legal justification for war.

The exchanges in the Commons followed the final report last week of the Iraq Survey Group, which concluded that Saddam had no stockpiles of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons for at least a decade before the invasion of Iraq last year.

It led to the disclosure by Foreign Secretary Jack Straw on Tuesday that MI6 had now finally withdrawn the notorious claim that Iraq could deploy WMD within 45 minutes.

Mr Blair dismissed a demand by the Conservative leader that he should now "say sorry" for the way he had presented the intelligence in the run-up to the war.

He said that while he apologised for information which had subsequently turned out to be wrong, he would not apologise for ousting Saddam.

"What I don't in any way accept is that there was any deception of anyone," he told MPs.

"I will not apologise for removing Saddam Hussein. I will not apologise for the conflict. It was right then, is right now and is essential for the wider security of the region and the world."

Mr Howard, who said he still believed the war was right, said he simply wanted Mr Blair to accept he had "misrepresented" the intelligence on Iraqi weapons.

"Why can't he bring himself now to say sorry for that?" he demanded.