CANBERRA, July 7 (Xinhua) -- Australia's Foreign Minister Julie Bishop Thursday defended the government's choice to enter the 2003 Iraq War, following the release of the damning Chilcot Report which was critical of the coalition decision to invade the Middle Eastern nation.
The Chilcot Report, a seven-year British inquiry into the 2003 invasion of Iraq, found the legal justification for the war was inadequate, the allied intelligence was at times flawed, and the threat to Western society posed by Saddam Hussein was exaggerated.
Bishop said the government took responsibility for the decision to involve itself in the war, but told the Seven Network that, at the time, intelligence suggested intervening in Iraq was the right decision.
"Well it was based on information, the best information at the time. I was in the partyroom. I recall the information that was presented to us," Bishop told Seven on Thursday.
"It was the best information that was available and we took a decision at the time."
Bishop said the government would not be apologizing for the decision which cost the lives of two Australian soldiers and more than 150,000 Iraqis, and added that any apology would have to come from then-Prime Minister John Howard.
The foreign minister also said the decision - later in the war - to maintain a presence in Iraq was purely "bipartisan."
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