Former minister calls ex-PM Blair 'liar' in Iraq inquiry

Only days after Tony Blair offered an impassioned defense of his decision to take Britain to war in Iraq, a cabinet minister who resigned over the war delivered a blistering condemnation of the former prime minister on Tuesday, accusing him of "conning" her and of deceiving his cabinet, the Parliament and the public in his resolve to have Britain join the United States in the invasion of 2003. Appearing before an official inquiry into the conflict, Clare Short provided an electrifying counterpoint to Mr. Blair's testimony on Friday. Mr. Blair had called Saddam Hussein "a monster," said he had no regrets about the war and warned that the same concerns that led to war over Iraq now applied to Iran and Western concerns that Tehran is secretly developing nuclear weapons. Ms. Short, who quit as international development minister two months after the invasion in 2003, repeatedly accused Mr. Blair of "misleading" her and other cabinet ministers about the advice he was getting from government lawyers who questioned the legality of invading Iraq.