Getting rid of Saddam

To The Times

The Chilcot report is wrong to say the invasion of Iraq in 2003 was unnecessary. Saddam Hussein’s regime had to be brought down immediately. He was a long-term supporter of terrorism. He had links to al-qa’eda that could easily have developed into full-blown cooperation. The potential threat posed by a terrorist organisation that had proven its intent to kill our citizens without restraint, supported by a state’s resources – with or without weapons of mass destruction – had to be prevented at all costs. The invasion of Iraq was not just reasonable action by George W. Bush and Tony Blair, it was their duty.

I agree with the report, however, about the shortcomings in military equipment and advice, and the inadequate planning for post-invasion Iraq. These are linked, and resulted in inadequate and ill-equipped British military forces being deployed to contain the situation in southern Iraq, and ultimately failing to do so. This was certainly not a failure of troops on the ground but of their political and military leaders in the UK, who still thought they were fighting the last war – Northern Ireland – with the tactics and priorities used against the IRA.

Colonel Richard Kemp, commander of British forces in Afghanistan in 2003, London

To The Daily Telegraph

It amazes me that there are still people who think Britain joined in the Us-led invasion of Iraq to save the Iraqi people from a brutal dictator. Make no mistake, the 2003 invasion of Iraq was essentially a US project based on its Middle East foreign policy. Unlike Harold Wilson, who refused to commit British forces in Vietnam, Tony Blair joined the Iraq escapade for reasons which, it can be argued, were more to do with enhancing his reputation on the world stage than with addressing the policy interests of his own country.

As John Bolton stated, America was driven by its desire to remove Hussein and his regime in order to eliminate the threat to Israel and oil-rich Middle East states. Remember Saddam’s launching Scud missiles at Tel Aviv during the first Gulf War? It was a very big mistake indeed. Mr Bolton’s assessment will, hopefully, shut down attempts to justify the invasion of Iraq on, to say the least, rather spurious grounds. That MPS bought into Mr Blair’s claim about Saddam’s 45-minute WMD threat to British territories is disgraceful when there was already information in the public domain to indicate clearly why the US might want to destroy Saddam’s regime.

Ian Johnson, Chelford, Cheshire