Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has issued a qualified apology for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, saying he’s sorry for “mistakes” made during the war, but not for the ouster of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Blair made the comments in response to questions from CNN’s Fareed Zakaria.

Fareed Zakaria: “When people look at the rise of ISIS, many people point to the invasion of Iraq as the principal cause. What do you say to that?”

Tony Blair: “I think there are elements of truth in that. But I think we’ve, again, got to be extremely careful; otherwise we’ll misunderstand what’s going on in Iraq and in Syria today. Of course, you can’t say that those of us who removed Saddam in 2003 bear no responsibility for the situation in 2015.”