US' John Kerry Admits Iraq War Was Based on Lie But Won't Call It Aggression

A former Vietnam veteran, John Kerry received significant criticism during his failed 2004 presidential run for "being for the [Iraq] war before he was against it."

The US special ambassador on climate change and former Secretary of State John Kerry recently admitted on French television that the 2003 invasion of Iraq was based on a lie, but refused to admit it was a war of aggression.

Appearing on French TV channel LCI, Kerry insisted the US invasion of Iraq was completely different from the conflict in Ukraine. The French journalist noted the invasion of Iraq was a war of aggression based on lies that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and links to al-Qaeda*.

The crux of Kerry's argument seems to be that former US President George W. Bush was never charged with a crime.

“No, [it was not a war of aggression],” Kerry replied. “Because there’s never even been, you know, a process of direct accusation of President Bush himself.”

Kerry did not deny there were abuses in Iraq and claimed he “spoke out against them.” However, he repeatedly denied the war was an act of aggression by the United States.

“No, No, No. Well, you didn’t know it was a lie at the time. The evidence that was produced, people didn’t know that it was a lie,” Kerry stammered.

“Sir, that is not a constructive way,” the failed 2004 presidential candidate trailed off before concluding: “I’m not going to re-debate the Iraq War. We have spent a lot of time doing that previously, I was opposed to going in, I thought it was the wrong thing to do, but we gave the president the power, regrettably…. Based on the lie. And when we knew it was a lie, people stood up and did the right thing.”

Kerry, as the reporter pointed out, voted to authorize the invasion, though he would later campaign against it during his 2004 presidential run. The Iraq War would officially endure until 2011, though the US continues to station roughly 2,500 troops in Iraq to for its operations against Daesh**.

The Iraq War was sold on the premise that Iraq had or was developing weapons of mass destruction in violation of a UN resolution signed after the end of the Persian Gulf War (Operation Desert Shield/Storm).

The Bush administration and Tony Blair premiership in the UK presented fabricated evidence that Iraq was violating those sanctions and limiting UN weapon inspectors. Then-Secretary of State Colin Powell also uncritically recounted a report that captured al-Qaeda leader Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi stating Iraq was providing chemical weapons training to Al-Qaeda fighters, though a CIA report prior to his testimony indicated al-Libi would not have been in a position to know such information.

Post-war analysis showed that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had actually rebuffed meetings proposed by al-Qaeda operatives, that he never provided any material or operational support to the organization and saw them as a threat to his regime.

Two years after the attack, 69% of Americans believed Hussein was personally responsible for September 11 and 89% believed he was providing support to Osama bin Laden.

After losing to Bush in 2004, Kerry would later serve in the Obama administration as the secretary of state. Despite pledging to end the war, former US President Barack Obama kept it going for years and sent an additional 33,000 troops to the country in 2009.

* Al-Qaeda is a terrorist organization banned in Russia and other countries
**Daesh (also known as ISIS/ISIL/IS) is a terrorist organisation outlawed in Russia and many other states