Corbyn to apologize over Iraq war if wins Labour Party leadership

Corbyn also said he would apologize to the British people for the “deception” in the run-up to the 2003 invasion and to the Iraqi people for their suffering, The Guardian reported.
 
Blair has already resisted calls to make a public apology over the Iraq war.
 
The planned apology is seen as part of efforts to win back support of  Labour Party members who left the party over were sidelined as a result of the controversial decision by Blair’s Labour government to join the unpopular war.
 
Corbyn has said the Labour Party needs to form a coalition with anti-war parties to win 2020 elections.
 
Restoring integrity
 
A British author and political commentator says that such an apology can bring political integrity and public trust back to the UK public.
 
    “If he issues an apology to the British people and the people of Iraq, I think that is incredibly symbolic of two things. First of all, (it indicates) Jeremy Corbyn’s attempt to bring integrity back into British politics which is a huge problem with voters’ dissatisfaction rising, participation in elections is falling. I think the biggest example of that lack of integrity is the fact that the British government under Tony Blair, led an invasion of war in which at least 220,000 people were killed, was the biggest deception ever made upon the British people in the history of parliament,” Nigel Flanagan said.
 
Corbyn’s latest comments come as the Tory government is lobbying for the parliament’s approval for UK military involvement in Syria.
 
 “I think having given the apology over the events in Iraq, clears the way for a more principled and more humane and a more democratic approach to the problems in Syria,” Flanagan added.
 
He also reiterated that Corybyn’s latest comments will see British politicians get united against him.
 
“I’m absolutely sure that they will unite against it… Because there are many British political leaders who have been involved in all kinds of breaches of the UN laws and international law,” said Flanagan.
 
Hidden hands
 
He also pointed to the much-awaited Chilcot report and said there are behind-the-scene hands working to delay the publication of the results of the inquiry.
 
“We understand that Tony Blair and other political leaders behind the scenes are doing everything they can to delay the publications of the findings of the Chilcot report,” Flanagan noted.
 
Chilcot lost control of inquiry
 
Meanwhile, Lord Moris, Tony Blair’s former attorney general, has criticized the six-year duration of the Iraq war inquiry, saying that John Chilcot has lost control of the review.
 
Morris said the process has failed to provide the families of 179 soldiers who died in the war with answers. He said it has rather ended up adding to their misery.