'God will judge me on Iraq invasion' says Blair

TONY Blair believes he will be judged by God for his decision to send British troops into Iraq, the Prime Minister reveals today.

In a rare departure from his usual reticence about discussing his faith in public, Mr Blair talks openly about his Christianity in a television interview to be broadcast on ITV .

Amid continuing turmoil in Iraq - sectarian violence claimed another 25 lives yesterday - the veteran chat show host Michael Parkinson asks Mr Blair about the decision to invade Iraq.

More than 100 British troops have died there since the invasion three years ago. Many now fear the country is on the verge of full-blown civil war.

"That decision has to be taken and has to be lived with," the Prime Minister replies. "In the end there is a judgment that, well, I think if you have faith about these things, then you realise that judgment is made by other people... if you believe in God, it's made by God as well."

Asked if he prayed when making the decision, Mr Blair suggests that he did seek spiritual guidance.

"Well, I don't want to get into something like that," he says. "But of course you struggle with your conscience about it because people's lives are affected."

Since the invasion, Downing Street officials have been acutely sensitive about any link between Mr Blair's faith and the war. George Bush, the US president, last year faced derision after allegedly claiming God told him to topple Saddam Hussein.

When Mr Blair addressed Britain on the eve of war in March 2003, his aides forced him to drop plans to end his televised speech with the words "God bless you". Alastair Campbell, his communications chief at the time, also interrupted a magazine interviewer questioning the Prime Minister about religion, saying: "We don't do God."

But in tonight's interview, Mr Blair talks at length about his Christianity, confirming that his faith informs his politics.

"If you have a religious belief it does, but it's probably best not to take it too far," he says.

Mr Blair explains his interest in politics ultimately stems from his belief in God, a situation he says he first accepted while he was a student at Oxford University.

"I kind of got into religion and politics at the same time," he says. "I began to think about the world differently. And so I got interested in that at the same time as I became interested in politics."

In the interview, Mr Blair ducks most questions put to him about contemporary politics and his plans for life after Downing Street, but he tacitly admits to some friction with his presumed successor, the Chancellor, Gordon Brown.

"Politics is very hard to have a friendship in," Mr Blair says. "There is only one top job and it's not an ignoble ambition to want it, so there's all those difficulties there."

Last night, news of Mr Blair's comments provoked strong reactions. Rose Gentle, whose son Gordon was killed in Basra in 2004, said she was "quite disgusted" at the comments made by the Prime Minister.

The Military Families Against the War campaigner said: "How can he say he is a Christian? A Christian would never put people out there to be killed."

If there is a God (and I am not suggesting that there is, or there isn't) but Blair will be Judged.  Afterall, prior to the war, he, Blair, was quoted as saying that "their was no doubt whatsoever about the threat posed by Iraq". My question is: Is he still convinced that Saddam is a threat? and If not why are they invading Iraq? Those people will never let AMERICAN run their country. There will constant war in that region, like come on people wake up. Honestly does Bush/Blair think for one second that Iraqi people will one day say: Yeah you know Bush and Mr.Blair you killed our children, you have reduced our Museums to nothing but a rubble, hey come on in and run your oil business and we will now buy from you. HELL NO! There will always be unrest until the Americans are out of Iraq.

It's a evolution of deceit that just seems to continue to spin out of control. Can we impeach him for anything?

you are so right juju,the only thing bush and blair managed to do was give the islamic peoples an enemy to unite against  .This similar to the old crusades.I hope for my childrens future that I am wrong but I do see the beginning of world war III . Here in north america we poke fun at their holy wars,draw cartoons of them,then wonder why they hate us.we really do not understand the islamic culture,nor will we ever.These people have fought wars for centuries for their beliefs.It is sad to sit here and watch and wait for the bloodshed that I truly believe is coming. All for the sake of money and power.I do know just from looking at the history books ,that the islamic culture are all prepared to die defending their faith ,how long are we willing to send our children off to die for the sake of money? 

The United States ambassador to Baghdad conceded on Tuesday that the Iraq invasion had opened a Pandora's box of sectarian conflicts which could lead to a regional war and the rise of religious extremists who "would make Taliban Afghanistan look like child's play".

Zalmay Khalilzad broke with the Bush administration's generally upbeat orthodoxy to present a stark profile of a volatile situation in danger of sliding into chaos.

Khalilzad told the Los Angeles Times Iraq had been pulled back from the brink of civil war after the February 22 bombing of a Shia shrine in Samarra.

However, another similar incident would leave Iraq "really vulnerable" to that happening, he said. "We have opened the Pandora's box and the question is, what is the way forward?" He added that the best approach was to build bridges between religious and ethnic communities.

An opinion poll published by the Washington Post and ABC News on Tuesday suggested that most Americans agreed with Khalilzad -- with 80% saying civil war in Iraq was likely, and more than a third that it was very likely. More than half thought the US should start withdrawing its troops, although only one in six wanted all troops to be withdrawn immediately.

Hours after Khalilzad made his remarks, the US Defence Ssecretary, Donald Rumsfeld accused Iran of dispatching elements of its Revolutionary Guard to stir trouble inside Iraq. Rumsfeld said: "They are currently putting people into Iraq to do things that are harmful to the future of Iraq and we know it. And it is something that they, I think, will look back on as having been an error in judgement."

Khalilzad's intervention comes in a week when the two top US generals in Iraq, John Abizaid and George Casey, are in Washington talking to the Pentagon and the White House about how many troops they will need to maintain stability in Iraq. With his remarks, Khalilzad may have been lobbying Washington to keep as many American soldiers there as possible. The Bush administration is anxious to reduce the US military presence for political and military reasons.

Rumsfeld said sectarian violence had been exaggerated by the media. When asked how that squared with Khalilzad's view, he replied: "Well, he's there. He's an expert. And he said what he said. I happen to have not read it, but I am not going to try to disagree with it."

Nevertheless, it was clear on Tuesday that the Pentagon was anxious to limit the impact of Khalilzad's remarks. "If you take it from a year ago to now, month to month, the attacks now are down compared to last year," said General Peter Pace, chairperson of the joint chiefs of staff.

Khalilzad suggested the situation was so dangerous that without a substantial US presence, a civil war could suck in other Arab countries on the side of the Sunnis and Iran on the side of the Shias, creating conditions for a regional conflict and disrupting global oil supplies. "That would make Taliban Afghanistan look like child's play," he said.

On Tuesday night Dick Cheney, the US Vice-President, stepped up pressure on Iran over its nuclear ambitions. Cheney told a meeting of the Israeli lobby group, Aipac, "We will not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon." Rumsfeld said there were 132 000 US troops in Iraq. Plans were in place to shrink the presence to about 100 000. Downing Street said on Tuesday no "strict timetable" had been laid down for British troops to withdraw. A Foreign Office spokesperson said: "I do not think we would be quite as gloomy as Pandora's box and civil war." But if there were further big sectarian attacks, things could get very difficult, he said.