Families of UK soldiers killed in Iraq to take Blair to court

Relatives of British soldiers killed during the Iraq war say they will take former Prime Minister Tony Blair to court if a long-awaited report due to be published on Wednesday finds that he acted wrongly over the war.

The inquiry, also referred to as the Chilcot Inquiry after its chairman, Sir John Chilcot, which was established in 2009 to investigate Britain’s role in the Iraq war and its aftermath that saw British forces remain in the Arab country for six years.

The Chilcot Inquiry was named after its chairman, Sir John Chilcot. He has said the report would help the families of the 179 Britons who died in Iraq between 2003 and 2009 to receive some answers.

Sources close to Blair say he will try to defend himself against possible war crime accusations in the Chilcot Inquiry by claiming that he was given wrong intelligence on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction.

Families of the British soldiers, sailors and airmen who died during the war are preparing to take Blair to court for following the United States’ footsteps into a six-year-long illegal war.

Previously the International Criminal Court said it would not prosecute Blair if it found traces of war crimes in the upcoming report.

Launched by the administration of former US president George W. Bush with strong UK backing, the war led to the deaths of more than one million Iraqis.

Blair has always denied the claim that he and Bush signed a deal “in blood” at Crawford, Texas, to launch a war against Iraq that began on March 20, 2003.

The invasion plunged Iraq into chaos, resulting in years of deadly violence and the rise of terrorist groups like Daesh (ISIL).