A former commander of the SAS called yesterday for the impeachment of Tony Blair over the war in Iraq, saying that the Prime Minister should not be allowed to "walk away" from the fact that he took his country to war on a false premise.
Gen Sir Michael Rose, who commanded the United Nations protection force in Bosnia during the war in former Yugoslavia, said Mr Blair must take personal responsibility for a foreign adventure that had proved disastrous both for the West and the people of Iraq.
The Prime Minister had used non-existent weapons of mass destruction as a casus belli when he "probably had some other strategy in mind".
Speaking on Radio 4's Today programme, he said: "Certainly from a soldier's perspective there can't be any more serious decision taken by a Prime Minister than declaring war.
"Then to go to war on what turns out to be false grounds is something that no one should be allowed to walk away from."
Gen Rose who, as a lieutenant colonel, oversaw the storming of the Iranian embassy in London in 1980, said that Mr Blair's conduct sat somewhere between bad politics and illegality.
The comments are bound to cause unease in Downing Street, which is facing renewed calls for a parliamentary inquiry into the events leading up to the invasion of Iraq in March 2003.
However, impeachment - the trial by Parliament of an office-holder - is an extremely unlikely outcome, having not been used against a minister since the early 19th century.
Gen Rose makes the case for its use against Mr Blair in Iraq: The Failure Of War, a documentary to be broadcast this week.
He says: "The consequences of that war have been quite disastrous both for the people of Iraq and also for the West in terms of our wider interests in the war against global terrorism."
The former adjutant-general of the Army, effectively its head of personnel, is among a number of retired soldiers taking part in the documentary, presented by Martin Bell, the former BBC correspondent and MP.
Gen Rose says he would have resigned his commission rather than take troops to war on the flimsy basis offered by Mr Blair, adding: "The politicians should be held to account and my view is that Blair should be impeached.
"That would prevent politicians treating quite so carelessly the subject of taking a country into war."
Late last month an all-party group of MPs tabled a motion calling for a full Commons inquiry into the war. The group, led by Douglas Hogg, the former Tory cabinet minister, and Sir Menzies Campbell, the acting Liberal Democrat leader, is seeking the establishment of a select committee of privy counsellors.
The Prime Minister's official spokesman was dismissive of Gen Rose, saying that he was entitled to his view but happened to be retired.
He added: "The Government is entitled to point out that there have been three democratic elections in Iraq."
Iraq: The Failure of War is on Channel 4 at 7.30pm on Friday.
