Iraq

Former MI5 boss: "Iraq posed no threat" when Blair took Britain to war

Iraq posed no threat to the UK when then prime minister Tony Blair took Britain to war there, former MI5 boss Dame Eliza Manningham Buller has said.

The one-time security service boss has spoken out about the conflict in the past, revealing the reservations she had about it at the time.

But in a new interview, she told the Radio Times: "Iraq did not present a threat to the UK. The service advised that it was likely to increase the domestic threat and that it was a distraction from the pursuit of al Qaeda.

"I understood the need to focus on Afghanistan. Iraq was a distraction."

Ms Manningham-Buller said it was "for others to decide" whether the war was a mistake.

But she added: "Intelligence isn't complete without the full picture and the full picture is all about doubt. Otherwise, you go the way of George Bush."

She also described Colonel Muammar Gaddafi as "a horror" but appeared torn about military interventions like the current Nato foray into Libya.

"It's very difficult - do you just stand by and watch people being murdered?" she said.

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