29 July, 2011

News of the Wars

Iraq is now believed to be run by an elusive Iranian general, called Qassem Suleimani. Given that the largely Shia population of Iraq had close ties with Iran, we could have got to this stage without a single pound spent and, more importantly, a single life lost.

The House of Commons Defence Committee estimates the cost to Britain of the Afghanistan war as more than £18bn. There will be chaos when we leave, with the Taliban waiting to retake control.

The Foreign Secretary was reduced this week to saying that Gadaffi could stay in Libya. Of course he would sit quietly and not make any trouble. Before we went in, I urged that it should be explained to the British people what winning would look like and what losing would look like. To me this, along with the outcomes of the other two wars, looks like 'losing'.

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