The Iraq war: ten years on, was it worth it?

Yes — Emma Nicholson

More than 20 years ago I stood on the burning sands of Iraq’s southern deserts and watched in horror as tens of thousands of desperate men, women and children struggled, some barefoot, to reach the sanctuary of marshlands in the east.

I was there as a British parliamentarian after hearing stories of Saddam Hussein’s brutal crackdown on a Shia revolt. One eight-year-old boy I encountered had lost his entire family. He later underwent more than 20 plastic surgery operations in England; just one appalling story of which there are countless thousands. In the restive north of Iraq, Kurdish families were fleeing the wrath of Saddam’s Anfal campaign. Television news showed biblical scenes of men, women and children taking refuge in snow-covered mountain passes. Despite the passage of time, the dreadful human misery I witnessed all those years ago lives with me even now.

Saddam and his wicked henchmen were guilty of war crimes — arguably genocide — and consigning such evil to the dustbin of history along with the likes of Adolf Hitler and Pol Pot is, in my opinion, justification enough for the US-led invasion of 2003.

But ten years on — and to fully explore the question ‘Was it worth it?’ — we must examine the post-Saddam era. The high quality of the commanders of US forces, including General Peter W. Chiarelli, right up until America’s withdrawal from Iraq last year, was superb, and they achieved amazing results. But generally, the years immediately after 2003 were no credit to governments in either Washington or London.

The US policy of dismantling the Iraqi army and other security forces was misguided, as was expecting the Iraqis to immediately embrace a free market economy after decades of crippling state control. As for British policy, just as our fantastic forces had secured Basra and were beginning to win local hearts and minds, the then Chancellor, Gordon Brown, took the unforgivable decision to slash defence budgets, hugely undermining the achievements of our military men and women.