Former Australian Prime Minister John Howard has been cited in the UK’s damning inquiry into the 2003 Iraq War. Picture: AAP

During Howard’s prime ministership, Australia sent 2000 troops and ploughed $5 billion into the 2003 Iraq conflict. While it led to the toppling of dictator Saddam Hussein it killed tens of thousands of civilians and hundreds of troops including two Australians.

More than a decade after the war’s beginning, Iraq is still wracked by conflict and bloodshed.

The damning conclusions of the UK’s Iraq Inquiry, also known as the Chilcot report, has led to calls for Howard to be tried for “war crimes” for going to battle based on a “lie”.

However, while Howard has admitted there were “intelligence errors” he has defended military action in Iraq as the “right decision” at the time.

Howard’s role in the war is detailed in an epic 2.5 million word report released on Wednesday in London. The Chilcot inquiry concluded the reasons behind the military action in Iraq were flawed, the assertion Hussein had weapons of mass destruction was not proved and there was no imminent threat from the country.

Howard was Prime Minister for a decade between 1996 and 2007, overlapping with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and George W Bush’s time as US President.

Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, US President George W. Bush and John Howard were the chief cheerleaders for going to war.Source:News Corp Australia

As war approached the trio were lampooned as the “three stooges” rushing to war. Far from a strong leader, Howard was satirised as being starry-eyed about the President and Bush’s lapdog.

At a time when much of the world was cautioning against invading Iraq, the US, UK and Australia were the chief cheerleaders for going to war.

The Chilcot report reveals Blair consulted Howard at length, both to reassure himself that he was taking the right course of action, and to bring Australia into the so — called “coalition of the willing”.

This coalition eventually included the likes of Namibia and Mongolia but excluded key allies such as Canada, France and Germany.

In the run up to the war, in January 2003, the report detailed a conversation between Blair and Howard with the pair in lock-step saying a clear United Nations resolution would be “enormously helpful” in justifying military action.

The inquiry also examined the journals of Alistair Campbell, Blair’s communications director. In the same month, he wrote: “For obvious reasons, Iraq was worrying [Blair] more and more.

“Everyone [Blair] was speaking to, including tough guys like Howard, was saying that they need a second resolution or they wouldn’t get support.”

The tough guy had a soft spot for his British counterpart, even though Blair came from the Labour Party. He praised Mr Blair’s “strong and principled stance” and his “strong and effective leadership.”

An image from September 2002 of US President George W. Bush (R) and British Prime Minister Tony Blair when they met privately at Camp David to discuss possible military intervention in Iraq. Picture: AFPSource:AFP

However, by March a UN resolution was increasingly unlikely.

Howard asked Blair “if the diplomatic process was dead”. The British PM replied it had “reached an impasse” but he was convinced Hussein was “now busy hiding material round Iraq”. He wasn’t, and Britain’s so-called “dodgy dossier” on Iraq’s weapons stockpile was later demolished as being an exaggeration.

But the pair were so sure in their reasons to go to war they now discussed how to cut the UN out completely. “The implication would be that the US, UK and Australian troops should stay in the region indefinitely,” the report stated.

On March 18, two days before the start of military action, the US formally requested that Australia commit troops to the upcoming conflict.

Howard agreed immediately and said that: “… the Government strongly believed the decision taken was right, it was legal, it was directed towards the protection of the Australian national interest.”

Yet, perhaps mindful of the shaky reasoning for the war, Howard added that the Iraq issue was “one of morality not just legality”.

Protesters outside the London home of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair this week. Picture: GettySource:Getty Images

Independent MP for Denison, Andrew Wilkie, has said the report should be enough to see the three leaders tried.

“We know this now more clearly than ever that the Howard Government took us to war on a lie,” he said on Thursday.

“No wonder John Howard and Tony Blair and George W. Bush do stand accused of war crimes. I’d like them to see an international court. I would like them to defend their position and try to prove their innocence because all of those people who do accuse them of war crimes, I think make a pretty compelling case.”

Speaking on Thursday, Howard gave a robust defence of his role and that of Bush and Blair. He said intelligence information was never going to be “beyond doubt”.

“There’s been this constant claim that we went to war based on a lie. There was no lie. There were errors in intelligence but there was no lie.

“Do I apologise for the decision that I took? I defend that decision. I don’t retreat from it. I don’t believe, based on the information available to me, that it was the wrong decision. I really don’t,” he said.

The report suggested both Britain and Australia may have had concerns about failing to back the US.

Yet countries including France and Germany, which have routinely failed to follow America into war, continue to have strong relations with Washington.

On Tuesday, Blair mounted a passionate defence of his decisions, telling reporters: “I believe we made the right decision and the world is better and safer”.

But he said he had “more sorrow, regret and apology than you may ever know or can believe” for mistakes in the planning of a war that deeply divided Britain.

Anti-war protesters rallied in London as the report was released, shouting: “Blair lied, thousands died” and “war criminal Tony Blair”.

Current UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who is no fan of Blair, said on Tuesday “The invasion and occupation of Iraq was a catastrophe.”

More than a decade after the coalition of the willing, Iraqis also wonder it was all worth it given just days ago 250 people were slaughtered in Baghdad following an Islamic State attack.