Blair's Memoir Tackles Iraq, Alcohol, Clinton and Bush

LONDON (Sept. 1) -- Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair offers biting portraits of other world leaders and a searing account of how war and political infighting took their toll on him in a memoir published today.

The autobiography, titled "A Journey," has been long awaited by the British public. And although the country is almost equally split between those who detest the ex-leader -- largely because they think he tricked the country into joining the Iraq war -- and those who admire his decisive leadership style, both pro- and anti-Blairites are fascinated by his decade in power. The book hit No.1 on Amazon.co.uk's best-seller list moments after it went on sale this morning, and is expected to become the site's highest-ever-grossing political memoir.

Perhaps appropriately, this self-penned tome was released on the same day that the U.S. formally ended combat operations in Iraq -- a far-away country that will continue to define the Blair era, even though it began well into his stint as prime minister from 1997 to 2007. The former resident of No. 10 Downing St. says he doesn't regret joining the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, even though his justification for going to war -- that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction -- eventually proved to be unfounded.

"On the basis of what we do know now, I still believe that leaving Saddam in power was a bigger risk to our security than removing him and that, terrible though the aftermath was, the reality of Saddam and his sons in charge of Iraq would at least arguably be much worse," he writes. However, the former prime minister admits that he failed to foresee the "nightmare" of sectarian violence and terror that exploded post-invasion, and which has so far claimed an estimated 100,000 lives, mostly civilians.

Blair adds that he still feels deep sorrow and pain for the relatives of those killed in the war. "The anguish arises from a sense of sadness that goes beyond conventional description or the stab of compassion you feel on hearing tragic news," he writes. "Tears, though there have been many, do not encompass it. I feel desperately sorry for them, sorry for the lives cut short, sorry for the families whose bereavement is made worse by the controversy over why their loved ones died, sorry for the utterly unfair selection that the loss should be theirs."

Many Brits are perplexed that Blair was apparently persuaded to join that foreign adventure by President George W. Bush, who is often portrayed in the U.K. media as a dumb hick. But the former prime minister insists that Bush was "very smart" while possessing an "immense simplicity in how he saw the world."

"I was asked recently which of the political leaders I had met had most integrity," he says. "I listed George near the top. He had genuine integrity and as much political courage as any leader I ever met."

Blair formed a similarly tight relationship with Bush's predecessor, President Bill Clinton. "We were political soulmates," he says, before suggesting that the Monica Lewinsky affair may have occurred because of Clinton's "inordinate interest in and curiosity about people."

"In respect of men, it was expressed in friendship," he notes, "in respect of women, there was potentially a sexual element. And in that, I doubt he is much different from most of the male population."

"A Journey" also delves into another defining aspect of the Blair years: his love-hate relationship with his finance minister and eventual successor, Gordon Brown. It is common knowledge that the two men had frequent, heated arguments about health, education, pension and welfare reforms -- Cabinet members called these spats the "TB-GBs." But Blair uses his memoir to slam his former ally, saying that he always knew Brown's premiership would end in disaster. (Labour lost the May election to the opposition Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.)

He describes Brown, who is politically to the left of Blair, as "difficult, at times maddening," but also "strong, capable and brilliant." Blair adds that the former finance minister lacked political instinct "at the human gut level."

"Analytical intelligence, absolutely. Emotional intelligence, zero," he says of his onetime friend.

Mounting tensions with Brown, as well as his own plummeting popularity ratings, led Blair to use alcohol as "a prop" toward the end of his prime ministership. "[I'd have a] stiff whisky or G&T [gin and tonic] before dinner, couple glasses of wine or even a half a bottle with it," he writes. "By the standards of days gone by I was not even remotely a toper [heavy drinker] ... but if you took the thing everyone always lies about -- units per week -- I was definitely at the outer limit."

Other world leaders encountered by Blair, though, couldn't master their booze cravings. He describes a meeting with an "unpredictable" and clearly inebriated Boris Yeltsin in 1999, where the Russian president "came across the room to greet me with one of his famous hugs. ... The hug began. The first ten seconds were, I thought, wonderfully friendly.

"The next ten began to get a little uncomfortable," he adds. "The following ten started respiratory problems. I finally got released after about a minute and staggered off in search of a stiff drink. I think he made his point."