Testifying before the Iraq Inquiry on 29 January 2010 , Blair said Saddam was a " monster and I believe he threatened not just the region but the world . " Blair said that British and American attitude towards Saddam Hussein had " changed dramatically " after the 11 September attacks . Blair denied that he would have supported the invasion of Iraq even if he had thought Saddam had no weapons of mass destruction . He said he believed the world was safer as a result of the invasion . He said there was " no real difference between wanting regime change and wanting Iraq to disarm : regime change was US policy because Iraq was in breach of its UN obligations . " In an October 2015 CNN interview with Fareed Zakaria , Blair apologised for his " mistakes " over Iraq War and admitted there were " elements of truth " to the view that the invasion helped promote the rise of ISIS . The Chilcot Inquiry report of 2016 gave a damning assessment of Blair 's role in the Iraq War , though the former prime minister again refused to apologise for his decision to back the US-led invasion
11 September attacks
September 11 attacks
Tony Blair