Mayhem in Iraq: don’t expect Blair & Co to take blame for Isis

Murderous militants have exploited West’s botched foreign policy. But will anyone accept responsibility?

Tony Blair
(Image credit: Chris Jackson - WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Bring back Saddam Hussein – all is forgiven. Mosul, Iraq’s third-largest city (their equivalent of Birmingham), is now controlled by a murderous al-Qaeda affiliated armed force, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis).

Up to two divisions of the US-trained security forces of the Iraqi Government are reported to have abandoned their weapons and bugged out on Monday night rather than mount any resistance. As a result, the fourth largest arms depot in Iraq is now in Isis hands along with maybe half a billion dollars worth of cash. Even Tikrit, Saddam’s birthplace and once a stronghold of the secular Baath Party, is now in Isis territory.

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is a former Welsh Guards lieutenant colonel and intelligence analyst for the British government's Joint Intelligence Committee. His book, 7-7: What Went Wrong, was one of the first to be published after the London bombings in July 2005.