Gordon Brown: war in Iraq was right decision for right reasons

Published: 10:17AM GMT 05 March 2010

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Opening his justification to the inquiry, the Prime Minister voiced his dolour for the loss of hold up in the conflict.

But he insisted that it had been required for the general village to confront Saddam Hussein.

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""I think this is the gravest preference to go to war,"" he said. ""It was the right preference and it was for the right reasons.""

Mr Brown paid reverence to the "sacrifice" of the British infantry who had lost their lives in the dispute whilst acknowledging the scale of the municipal losses.

"Any loss of hold up is something that creates us really unhappy indeed," he said.

Unlike Tony Blair when he appeared in January, Mr Brown entered the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, where the exploration is being held, by the front entrance.

Only a small tangle of protesters had collected to symbol his arrival.

Mr Brown pronounced there were 3 areas he utterly longed for to lift with the exploration panel.

He pronounced it was critical to have "proper structures of decision-making" in Government for fighting wars, to conduct conflicts improved and to urge how states work together in conflicts.

Mr Brown said: "There will be interventions in the future, and general co-operation has got to be far larger than it was.

"Global problems need tellurian solutions, and I would utterly pull courtesy to the significance in all this of the strongest probable attribute in between Europe and America, something that I am dynamic to set up up and go on to have stronger in the future."

Mr Brown told the exploration that terrorists and "rogue states" were the "two risks to the post-Cold War world" and had to be tackled.

He pronounced he was concerned in Cabinet discussions prior to the advance and was assured that Iraq acted a threat.

"I met the comprehension services on a series of occasions during the march of 2002 and early 2003," he said.

"I was since report by the comprehension services that led me to hold that Iraq was a hazard and had to be dealt with by the actions of the general community."

But he told the row that he had longed for to secure general agreement to equivocate war.

"What we longed for was a tactful track to succeed," he said. "Right up to the last minute, right up to the last weekend, I think most of us were carefree that the tactful track would succeed."

Mr Brown pronounced he told Mr Blair in mid-2002 that income would be no intent if Britain launched troops movement conflicting Saddam Hussein.

The former chancellor pronounced he accepted that a little options for a fight were some-more costly than others, but affianced to account yes or no choice was "right for the country".

Mr Brown pronounced he was concerned in discussions with then-defence cabinet member Geoff Hoon about a probable dispute with Iraq from Jun 2002.

He told the inquiry: "I pronounced rught away to the budding apportion that the troops options that were underneath discussion, there should be no clarity that there was a monetary patience that prevented us you do what was most appropriate for the military."

He added: "I told him that I would not - and this was right at the commencement - I would not try to order out any troops choice on the drift of cost, utterly the opposite."