A DEFIANT Tony Blair has told the Chilcot Inquiry that given the same circumstances he would send Britain into war in Iraq again.

He told his inquisitors that Britain’s security in 2010 would be less certain if Saddam Hussein’s Iraq was, like Iran, vying for nuclear capability.

In a tense six-hour session the audience, including many who had lost loved ones because of the decision to invade, could be heard dissenting as he gave some of his answers.

Among them was Batley’s Peter Brierley.

His son, Lt Cpl Shaun Brierley, 28, died in an accident in Kuwait in March 2003 when the vehicle he was in crashed during the first days of the Iraq War.

He believes the former Prime Minister should be called to account in the Hague for war crimes.

An Iraqi asylum seeker living in Birkby has welcomed the inquiry into Britain’s involvement in the conflict.

Mahmmed Dinel, 27, was born in Iran, but spent his teenage years living in Iraq under Saddam Hussein.

He said the war had been hard on the Iraqi people, but felt it was better than life under Saddam’s rule.

He said: “It was difficult for people living in Iraq. Many people were dying. Young men were given no choice.

“They had to be a soldier or they faced 15 years in prison, unless their families were very rich and had a lot of money to pay.

“I didn’t want to do that so I ran away.

“I was very afraid. If I was a soldier, I would have died fighting or if I wasn’t I would be killed anyway. There was no choice.

“Saddam Hussein was a bad man. He did many things to the Kurdish community.

“I think Britain was right to get Saddam out and save people but so many innocent people have died or being left with nothing.

“And when I saw prisoners being abused in the prisons, I was not very happy about that.

“But overall, the country is safer now that Saddam has gone.

“I am happy there is an inquiry so we can hear all the information about what happened.”

Peter Brierley, speaking to The Examiner this week, said: “If you look back at this inquiry, people have said they knew the weapons of mass destruction weren’t there.

“Everyone who has given evidence seems to be saying the war was wrong. Tony Blair can’t deny that he went to war illegally.”

In one exchange, Prof Sir Lawrence Freedman asked Mr Blair: “What would you say to the Iraqi people that could explain what they must have felt, a sense of let-down at what the coalition had been able to do for them?”

Mr Blair said: “The coalition forces weren’t the ones doing the killing.

“The ones doing the killing were the terrorists, the sectarians, and they were doing it quite deliberately to stop us making the progress we wanted to make.

“So my attitude, and I took this line very, very strongly with people, when you say ‘isn’t it terrible that the death toll went that high?’ is yes. It’s terrible.

“But the first question to ask is who was killing them and this turned out to be precisely the same people that we were trying to fight everywhere and our responsibility was to stick in there and see it through.”

Roger Keely from Huddersfield Stop The War Coalition said: “Tony Blair is a good performer – that’s one reason that’s why he’s been able to get away with so much.

“Whatever happens it’s not going to alter the fundamentals that they made war which on the best estimate, led to one million deaths and millions were displaced – and it was on the basis of falsehoods.

“Some of those falsehoods were deliberate and the inquiry is an establishment in-house inquiry. There are no opponents of the war being called, no Iraqis or different governments.

“It’s bringing out some useful information but it’s not really what we need. What we need is a trial. The evidence is overwhelming that people including Tony Blair are guilty of war crimes.

“Tony Blair comes across as sincere. He thinks that sincerity is enough. Sincerity doesn’t justify war crimes.

“When he started he was very nervous and shaking but I suppose anyone would be. I think it was cowardly to go in by the side entrance.”