Former British prime minister Tony Blair took the stand Friday in what may be his best -- and possibly last -- chance to justify to a large audience his decision to join the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
The highly unpopular decision has tarnished Blair's reputation, but he was unapologetic in front of the panel investigating the war.
Blair argued that before the attacks of Sept. 11 in New York, he thought of Saddam Hussein as a "menace, that he was a threat, he was a monster, but we would have to try and make the best of it."
But Blair said that all changed after the attacks, which he said he felt proved Saddam was more of a threat than he had previously thought.
"After that time, my view was you could not take risks with this issue at all," he said Friday.
CTV's London Bureau Chief Tom Kennedy said Blair appeared nervous at the inquiry -- which drew large crowds of protesters who demonstrated outside the building. Blair circumvented them by entering the building through a side entrance.
"It's been a very difficult morning. I don't think I've ever seen him quite as nervous as he was this morning when he took his seat at the inquiry," Kennedy said.
"The Iraq war has tarnished his reputation, probably forever, by the decision and this could be his last chance with a major public platform to try and justify the actions that he took."
The belief that weapons of mass destruction existed in Iraq was the driving motivation for the U.S. invasion. However, no evidence of the weapons was ever actually turned up.
The inquiry is the third major probe of the conflict that left 179 British troops dead before the U.K. withdrew last year.
Though it is not designed to lay blame, members are expected to ask tough questions about why certain decisions were made. That could be embarrassing for Blair and others from his close circle, Kennedy said.
"They're interested in why he said there was beyond any doubt a threat of weapons of mass destruction from Iraq, why did he assume war was legal when in fact his own legal advice from the foreign office was that it was not a legal war. They are going to be questions like that," Kennedy said.
Blair was scheduled for six hours of testimony on Friday.
Emotions were running high outside, as about 150 demonstrators, some of them wearing masks of Blair's likeness, read the names of people killed in the war and shouted "Jail Tony!" and "Blair lied, thousands died."
Rose Gentle, whose 19-year-old son Gordon was killed in Iraq in 2004, told The Associated Press she felt revulsion at Blair's presence.
"Actually, I felt sick," she said. "He seemed to be shaking as well, which I am pleased about -- the eyes of all the families were on him."
Though Blair was making a "very sincere, very detailed and exhaustive" explanation on Friday, it is likely too late, Kennedy said.
"I think Tony Blair and a lot of people who were very close to him are probably convinced now they can never recoup the reputations they would have had if the war in Iraq had never happened."
