George W Bush has not read damning Chilcot report

In a presentation that was temperate in tone but pulled no punches, Sir Chilcot, in his time-line of the run-up to the declaration of the 2003 war and thereafter – including a summary of lessons learned from the disastrous policy decision – came to several important conclusions that have contested numerous claims made by Mr. Blair before the invasion.

The leader of the Respect Party claimed he had asked the Pope to take action against Mr Blair for the “unjust war” in Iraq – because the International Criminal Court can not.

The long-awaited report said ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair had overstated the threat posed by Saddam Hussein – and military action was not a last resort.

He noted that Blair was warned that military action in Iraq would increase the threat of al Qaeda to Britain, but war risks were not “properly identified”.

The statement came following the publication of the report by John Chilcot – a former Privy Counsellor and civil servant – who was tasked to enquire into the circumstances surrounding the March 2003 invasion of Iraq and its aftermath.

It also highlighted how Blair wrote to USA president George W. Bush in July 2002, the year before the invasion, saying: “I will be with you, whatever”.

Misguided and misinformed: Sir Chilcot criticised Mr Blair for making his decision based on “flawed intelligence”.

On Wednesday, Blair said the note to Bush was created to “make it clear I was going to be with the Americans” but was not an open agreement for Washington to go ahead with the invasion, as some critics have claimed.

Yet despite the evidence of wrongdoing, he says he’d do it again.

“I want the Americans and the British, especially the Americans, to realize what they have caused all these years”, said Mayali. “And this my problem. I can’t do that”.

Then Prime Minister Helen Clark resisted the call to join the invasion, instead sending 60 engineers to help rebuild the country and support the United Nations.

However, we did eventually send personnel to undertake humanitarian and construction work.

The invasion and subsequent instability in Iraq had, by 2009, resulted in the deaths of at least 150,000 Iraqis, mostly civilians, and displaced more than a million.

Sarah O’Connor, whose brother Bob died when a military plane was shot down near Baghdad in 2005, described Mr Blair as “the world’s worst terrorist”.

Following strong criticisms in the report about the inadequacy of the military equipment – such as the lightly protected Snatch Land Rovers – Mr Blair insisted the generals had had all the resources they asked for.

He said he did not “share the view” that the current strife in the Middle East including the rise of the so-called Islamic State, could be traced back to the 2003 invasion as many commentators have argued.