Tony Blair: 'We didn't cause Iraq crisis'
The 2003 invasion of Iraq is not to blame for the violent insurgency now gripping the country, former UK prime minister Tony Blair has said.
Writing on his website, he said the violence was the "predictable and malign effect" of inaction in Syria.
"We have to liberate ourselves from the notion that 'we' have caused this," he wrote. "We haven't."
He said the idea that the current crisis was a result of the toppling of Saddam Hussein in 2003 was "bizarre".
Mr Blair said the takeover of Mosul by Sunni insurgents was planned across the Syrian border.
Syria is three years into a civil war in which tens of thousands of people have died and millions more have been displaced.
In August last year, a chemical attack near the capital Damascus killed hundreds of people.
In August, UK MPs rejected the idea of air strikes against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government to deter the use of chemical weapons.
"But every time we put off action," Mr Blair wrote, "The action we will be forced to take will be ultimately greater."
Writing on his website, he said the violence was the "predictable and malign effect" of inaction in Syria.
"We have to liberate ourselves from the notion that 'we' have caused this," he wrote. "We haven't."
He said the idea that the current crisis was a result of the toppling of Saddam Hussein in 2003 was "bizarre".
Mr Blair said the takeover of Mosul by Sunni insurgents was planned across the Syrian border.
Syria is three years into a civil war in which tens of thousands of people have died and millions more have been displaced.
In August last year, a chemical attack near the capital Damascus killed hundreds of people.
In August, UK MPs rejected the idea of air strikes against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government to deter the use of chemical weapons.
"But every time we put off action," Mr Blair wrote, "The action we will be forced to take will be ultimately greater."