LONDON: Former British prime minister Tony Blair told the Iraq war inquiry Friday that Saddam Hussein had been a "monster" and he could not have been allowed to develop weapons of mass destruction.
Blair said the threat posed by the Iraqi leader had been barely tolerable before the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, but the attacks showed the West could no longer risk him reactivating his weapons programmes.
"My assessment of risk prior to September 11 was that Saddam was a menace, that he was a threat, he was a monster, but we would have to try and make best," he said.
This assessment "completely changed" after the attacks on New York and Washington.
The former premier told the public inquiry into the 2003 war that Saddam was in charge of "an appalling regime" and "we couldn't run the risk of such a regime being allowed to develop WMD (weapons of mass destruction)".
Blair also described Saddam as a "profoundly wicked, almost psychopathic man".
He said the question of removing Saddam had been suggested in early 2002, ahead of his meeting with then US president George W. Bush at the president's ranch in Crawford, Texas -- but he denied they struck a deal there.
He said he agreed that Britain was "going to be with you (Bush) in confronting and dealing with this threat", Blair said, but added that exactly how they were going to deal with Saddam remained an "open question".
The day-long evidence session by Blair, who left office in 2007, has been eagerly awaited in Britain.
Blair said the threat posed by the Iraqi leader had been barely tolerable before the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, but the attacks showed the West could no longer risk him reactivating his weapons programmes.
"My assessment of risk prior to September 11 was that Saddam was a menace, that he was a threat, he was a monster, but we would have to try and make best," he said.
This assessment "completely changed" after the attacks on New York and Washington.
The former premier told the public inquiry into the 2003 war that Saddam was in charge of "an appalling regime" and "we couldn't run the risk of such a regime being allowed to develop WMD (weapons of mass destruction)".
Blair also described Saddam as a "profoundly wicked, almost psychopathic man".
He said the question of removing Saddam had been suggested in early 2002, ahead of his meeting with then US president George W. Bush at the president's ranch in Crawford, Texas -- but he denied they struck a deal there.
He said he agreed that Britain was "going to be with you (Bush) in confronting and dealing with this threat", Blair said, but added that exactly how they were going to deal with Saddam remained an "open question".
The day-long evidence session by Blair, who left office in 2007, has been eagerly awaited in Britain.
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