In Testimony, Brown Says Iraq War Was ‘Right Decision’

By ALAN COWELL
NYT

Challenged over his record as Britain’s finance chief for most of the Iraq war, Prime Minister Gordon Brown appeared on Friday before a high-level inquiry into the conflict, defending the decision to go to war but questioning American planning for the aftermath of the invasion.

“It was the right decision and it was made for the right reasons,” Mr. Brown said of the decision to invade.

But, addressing a panel of four knights and a peer in London’s Queen Elizabeth II conference center, he offered veiled criticism of the preparations to rebuild Iraq after the invasion, when the country descended into lawlessness, terrorism and sectarian strife.

“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,” he said.

(Original here.)