The Spectator

The shame of Iraq

Instead of asking why we fought in Iraq, we should ask why we lost

issue 09 July 2016

‘If it falls apart, everything falls apart in the region’

— Note from Tony Blair to George W. Bush, 2 June 2003.

 

Instead of asking why we fought the war, we should ask why we lost

The extraordinary length of time that we have had to wait for Sir John Chilcot’s report into the 2003 invasion of Iraq has not made the end result any more satisfying. For some, nothing less than the indictment of Tony Blair on war crime charges would have sufficed. As for Blair himself, and many of those who surrounded him when the decision was made to remove Saddam Hussein from power, they will go on believing until their dying day that not only was the war just, but there was nothing much wrong with the way in which it was sold to the public and to Parliament.

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