Iraq War report shows West has lessons to learn

US President George W. Bush (L) and British Prime Minister Tony Blair walk together from their meeting at the US Embassy in Brussels in this February 22, 2005 file photo. [Photo/Agencies]

Former UK prime minister Tony Blair was heavily criticized in the official report of the inquiry into the 2003 Iraq War, which said his government overstated the threat posed by the then Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, sent ill-prepared troops into battle and had "wholly inadequate" plans for the aftermath. Global Times commented on Thursday:

It is now a universal consensus that the 2003 Iraq War, which claimed the lives of 179 British soldiers, thousands of American soldiers, and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians, was waged on the basis of flawed intelligence if not intentionally hyped misguidance.

The intervention in Iraq was not about eliminating weapons of mass destruction, as they didn't exist, but instead about overthrowing the regime of Saddam Hussein. Many in the West argued before the war that Iraq was not capable of developing nuclear weapons, nor had it long-range missiles and chemical and biological weapons.

The long-awaited inquiry report will make little difference to Iraq, which has ever since been plagued by sectarian clashes and religious extremism.

And it is unlikely to bother the United States at all, as it remains arrogantly confident in itself, which explains why it and the United Kingdom attempted to "remold" Iraq without the authorization of the United Nations Security Council.

While the release of the massive report on the UK's role in the Iraq War is a good start, there should be a wider look at how and why the two countries made their disastrous strategic decisions.

The pride and prejudice demonstrated by the gungho rush to topple Saddam is still deeply rooted in US decision-makers.

But the effects of that unjust war should be heeded by them, for it opened a Pandora's box in the Middle East from which hope is yet to emerge.