Blair faces public grilling over Iraq on Friday

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is slated to face a public inquiry on Friday over his decision to join in the invasion of oil-rich Iraq in March, 2003.

Blair has been criticized for cavorting with former US president George W. Bush and leading Britain to war.

On Wednesday, Tony Blair’s top legal advisor Lord Peter Goldsmith admitted that he was skeptical of the legitimacy of US military action against Iraq.

According to Goldsmith, UN Resolution 1441 — which gave Saddam Hussein a final warning — was “not crystal clear.”

“I didn’t see any evidence of an imminent threat” that called for self-defense, Goldsmith said.

The British and the US governments justified the invasion by insisting on the imminent danger posed by the Iraqi government’s possession of weapons of mass destruction in defiance of United Nations resolutions.

Britain sent 45,000 troops to support the 2003 US-led invasion, despite widespread doubts about its legality and mass protests against it on the streets of London.

Recent polls indicate that the majority of British citizens remain against the UK’s involvement in Iraq.