9 January 2007
Tony Blair has called the manner of Saddam Hussein’s execution "unacceptable"- but warned it "should not blind us" to the ex-Iraqi dictator’s crimes.
Speaking at a press conference with the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Mr Blair said it was important not to "lurch into a position of forgetting" Saddam’s victims.
The PM told reporters:
"The manner of the execution of Saddam was completely wrong, but that should not blind us to the crimes he committed against his own people, including the death of hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis, one million casualties in the Iran-Iraq war, and the use of chemical weapons against his own people, wiping out entire villages of people. So the crimes that Saddam committed does not excuse the manner of his execution, and the manner of his execution does not excuse the crimes."
Earlier this month, Mr Blair backed the Iraqi government’s announcement of an inquiry into the circumstances of the execution of Saddam.
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