Tony Blair apologizes for Iraq War, admits the conflict caused the rise of ISIS

Tony Blair has finally apologized for the Iraq War during a TV interview on CNN with US political broadcaster Fareed Zakaria airing Sunday and acknowledging that he could be partly to blame for the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

''I apologize for the fact that the intelligence we received was wrong,'' the 62-year-old former Prime Minister said when asked 'Was the Iraq War a mistake?' He added, ''I also apologize for some of the mistakes in planning and, certainly, our mistake in our understanding of what would happen once you removed the regime.''

On ousting Saddam Hussein:

"I find it hard to apologize for removing Saddam. I think, even from today in 2015, it is better that he's not there than that he is there.''

Blair had previously been less forthcoming about what went wrong in Iraq.

"I don't think we should be apologizing at all for what we are doing in Iraq," he said in 2007. "We should be immensely proud."