World misled over Iraq war: German minister

In an interview with the Tagesspiegel newspaper a year after the war broke out, International Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul said Berlin had been proved right in its opposition to the conflict.

"The concept of a unilateral preventive war has failed," she said.

Tap Here to Add The Daily Star As A Trusted Source

"The fact is, every excuse was used and sometimes documents were used, that were known to be false.

"The reality is that no evidence whatsoever has been found for many of the grounds that were cited (for war). Including weapons of mass destruction."

She said it was not a cause for Berlin to be self-satisfied about its stiff opposition to the US-led war.

"But if people are demanding a global rule of law, the truth must be told. It must be made clear if there was anything in the claims" about Iraq.

Wieczorek-Zeul said that although the scale of the humanitarian and refugee crisis had not been as great as imagined, "our fear that the war would lead to a high number of casualties has been proved correct.

"Also, our concern that the attack would provoke anger, hatred and a sense of powerlessness in the region has unfortunately been confirmed."