Religious war

On THE tenth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, Alastair Campbell said: “We should be really proud of the role we played in changing Iraq from what it was to what it is becoming.” That self-serving nonsense and similar sentiments expressed by his former boss Tony Blair proved to be, as we see today in that benighted land, a hostage to fortune.

It was inevitable that some battle-hardened group of Sunni fundamentalists such as the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Shams and Syria would invade and scatter Iraq’s US-trained toy soldiers. When Bush-Blair toppled Saddam Hussein and their successors undermined Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak and Libya’s Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi, they unleashed a religious war not seen since the nightmare of 17th century Europe. It is time the Blair doctrine of foreign intervention in the name of liberal values, proclaimed before 9/11 but put into action thereafter, was consigned to the dustbin of history.

(Dr) John Cameron

Howard Place

St Andrews, Fife