McGuinness: I advised Blair against Iraq invasion

As the race for the next Irish president nears its conclusion, one of the more controversial candidates sat down with Olaf Tyaransen for a candid and in-depth interview.

Martin McGuinness' candidature has been the subject of much media scrutiny, with his IRA past cropping up again and again. Speaking to Hot Press, McGuinness address that portion of his life with unflinching honesty, remarking that "I joined the IRA because the community that I come from were humiliated on their own streets by the RUC and by the British army."

On the subject of Britain, McGuinness reveals that he strongly urged Tony Blair not to participate in the post-9/11 invasion of Iraq.

"Gerry Adams and I handed George Bush a letter of protest, urging him not to carry out the invasion of Iraq," he says. "We went from there on our own business to Downing Street and met with Tony Blair and had a very interesting conversation. There were only four of us in the room: myself and Gerry, Tony Blair and (Downing Street Chief of Staff) Jonathan Powell. It was quite clear that they were going to go ahead and support Bush. And I said, ‘Tony, listen. It is my view that this will be the biggest mistake that you will ever make in your reign as Prime Minister of your country, and I would urge you not to do it’.

"I said, ‘it will be a disaster, it’ll be another Vietnam’, and Jonathan said, ‘Martin, we will have Iraq sorted out in three months’. And I said, ‘Jonathan, if you believe that, you’ve learned nathin’ from what happened in the North of Ireland’. So they went ahead and went into Iraq. It was a scandalous decision.”

McGuinness is then asked if Blair should be prosecuted for war crimes.

“Well, I think that that’s something between the international community and himself. The prospect of that happening I think is absolutely zilch. With the invasion of both Iraq and Afghanistan, we’ve seen tens of thousands of innocent people lose their lives, and I think that’s absolutely terrible.”

The full interview also deals further with McGuinness' IRA past, his involvement in the peace process, his relationship with Ian Paisley, the story behind his decision to run for president of Ireland and much more. You can read it by picking up the brand new issue of Hot Press which also features interviews with Noel Gallagher, Gay Mitchell and rising Irish stars The Kanyu Tree, on shelves now.