Blames US over Iraq reconstruction errors LONDON - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown insisted Friday the decision to invade Iraq was justified, but told a major inquiry into the war that the United States dismissed warnings of chaos and violence once Saddam Hussein was toppled. In four hours of evidence to Britain's inquiry on Iraq, a somber Brown repeatedly expressed regret over the lost lives of soldiers and civilians, and acknowledged mistakes were made by leaders in Washington and London. Brown, who served as Treasury chief from 1997 to 2007 and approved military spending, dismissed claims he had choked Britain's defense budgets or allowed soldiers to go to war without adequate equipment. Defending his role in the conflict, but cautious not to inflame tensions over the unpopular war ahead of a looming national election campaign, Brown said joining the 2003 US-led invasion was a tough call. “We have got to recognize that war may be necessary, but it is also tragic in the effect it has on people's lives,” said Brown, who voted – like a majority of British lawmakers – to approve Britain's role in the war. “These were difficult decisions ... ,” Brown said. “I believe they were the right decisions for the right reasons.” But he was critical of US planning, saying American officials failed to heed warnings about the need for clarity on how to protect and govern Iraq in the aftermath of the invasion. “It was one of my regrets that I wasn't able to be more successful in pushing the Americans on this issue – that the planning for reconstruction was essential, just the same as planning for the war,” Brown said. He said he'd drafted a paper listing British reconstruction plans and sent it to the US government in early March 2003. Brown's evidence followed testimony in January by former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who led the country to war. Unlike Blair, who defiantly stood by the invasion and argued Saddam was a threat to the entire world, Brown said he believed the war was justified because Baghdad had breached international rules in failing to abide by UN resolutions. He insisted Iraq had posed the first serious test to the post-Cold War world, claiming any failure to depose the Iraqi leader would have emboldened other dictators and stirred global tensions. Brown also sought to distance himself from President George W. Bush, suggesting their relations were “amicable” and criticizing the doctrine of some members of Bush's administration. “I never subscribed to what you might call the neo-conservative proposition that somehow, at the barrel of a gun, overnight, liberty or democracy could be conjured up,” Brown told the panel.
