London, Apr 20(ANI): British Foreign Secretary David Miliband has said that the UK would not have invaded Iraq in 2003, if it had been clear that the then-Iraqi President Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
When asked if he would still have supported the invasion of Iraq if he had known then what was known now, Miliband said: "Obviously there would have been no such decision".
"If we had known then what we know now, if we'd have known that Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction, there would have been no UN resolutions and no vote in the House of Commons," The Scotsman quoted Miliband, as saying.
His position appears to clash with comments made by then-British Prime Minister Tony Blair and then -Chancellor Gordon Brown, who have insisted that removing Saddam would "still have been the right decision".
In January, Blair told the Iraq Inquiry he felt "responsibility, but not regret" for removing Saddam.
"I believe he threatened not just the region, but the world. And in the circumstances that we faced then, but I think even if you look back now, it was better to deal with this threat, to remove him from office," Blair said.
Brown giving evidence to the same inquiry last month, said it had been the "right decision" to overthrow Saddam, who he said had been a "serial violator" of international law.
"These were difficult decisions, these were decisions that required judgment, these were decisions that required strong leadership, these were decisions that were debated and divided a lot of opinion in the country," Brown had said.
"I believe they were the right decisions for the right reasons, but I also believe it is our duty to learn the lessons from what has happened," he added. (ANI)
When asked if he would still have supported the invasion of Iraq if he had known then what was known now, Miliband said: "Obviously there would have been no such decision".
"If we had known then what we know now, if we'd have known that Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction, there would have been no UN resolutions and no vote in the House of Commons," The Scotsman quoted Miliband, as saying.
His position appears to clash with comments made by then-British Prime Minister Tony Blair and then -Chancellor Gordon Brown, who have insisted that removing Saddam would "still have been the right decision".
In January, Blair told the Iraq Inquiry he felt "responsibility, but not regret" for removing Saddam.
"I believe he threatened not just the region, but the world. And in the circumstances that we faced then, but I think even if you look back now, it was better to deal with this threat, to remove him from office," Blair said.
Brown giving evidence to the same inquiry last month, said it had been the "right decision" to overthrow Saddam, who he said had been a "serial violator" of international law.
"These were difficult decisions, these were decisions that required judgment, these were decisions that required strong leadership, these were decisions that were debated and divided a lot of opinion in the country," Brown had said.
"I believe they were the right decisions for the right reasons, but I also believe it is our duty to learn the lessons from what has happened," he added. (ANI)
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