Blair defends decision to support Iraq invasion

Former prime minister Tony Blair said he would have invaded Iraq even without evidence of weapons of mass destruction, according to excerpts of an interview to be broadcast Sunday on BBC, dpa reported.

   Blair answered a question about whether he still would have supported the war if he had known there were no unconventional weapons.

   "I would still have thought it right to remove him [Saddam Hussein]," Blair said.

   Blair admits he would have had to "use and deploy different arguments about the nature of the threat."

   Blair said his decision was also motivated by "the notion of him as a threat to the region" because Saddam Hussein had used chemical weapons against his own people.

   Blair is in the spotlight again from an upcoming investigation into the handling of the war. Blair is to appear before the panel early next year.

   Blair's government gave full support to former US president George W Bush in the March 2003 invasion, despite the lack of UN backing and opposition from the British people.

   Blair and Bush cited intelligence reports as proof that Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. But those reports later proved to be false, according to an investigation mandated by the US Congress.