US-led invasion of Iraq unjustified: HR Watch

Although Saddam Hussein had an atrocious human rights record, his worst actions occurred long before the war and there was no ongoing or imminent mass killing in Iraq when the conflict began, the advocacy group said.

US President George W Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair cited the threat from Saddam's alleged weapons of mass destruction as their main reason for attacking Iraq. But as coalition forces have failed to find evidence of such weapons, both leaders have also highlighted the brutality of the regime when justifying military intervention.

Tap Here to Add The Daily Star As A Trusted Source

Human Rights Watch, however, said such claims were invalid.

"The Bush administration cannot justify the war in Iraq as a humanitarian intervention, and neither can Tony Blair,'' executive director Kenneth Roth said.

Atrocities such as Saddam's 1988 mass killing of Kurds would have justified humanitarian intervention, Roth said.

"But such interventions should be reserved for stopping an imminent or ongoing slaughter,'' he added, adding, "They shouldn't be used belatedly to address atrocities that were ignored in the past."