Tikrit

Saddham's old stronghold is currently being fought over in Iraq and may fall to Iraqi government forces soon we are told.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-31883430 .

Yazidi sect

My heart bleeds for the Yazidi people trapped on bare mountains in northern Iraq. As ever, it is the innocents that suffer most - the little children, the women, the old and the sick. Why can't these people be allowed the freedom to express themselves however they wish as long as they harm no-one? Surely this is a basic human right?

I have grave doubts about the West's original intervention in Iraq, but fear we have no choice now but to help these poor people. One has only to imagine the total outcry were this to have happened in the UK.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-28758432 .

Iraq chaos

Since before the fall of Saddam Hussein I have been completely against western intervention in Iraq.  The cynic in me says we only were interested because of oil. Were it some tinpot non-entity in Africa we would have let them sort out their own future. My son and his then girlfriend attended the anti-Iraq war rally in London years ago. I am proud of them and their stand.

As it is, we have the worst of both worlds: Iraq deaths during and after the war have been huge and now it is on the brink of outright civil war. Saddam was bad but the chaos that has followed is arguably at least as bad. For the same reasons I fear for Afghanistan.

Some are even saying Tony Blair (the UK Prime Minister who took us into the war) should be prosecuted for war crimes. He is certainly leading a very nice lifestyle now as a so called Middle East Peace Envoy. It seems a million miles away from his so-called Labour roots. Sorry Tony but your lavish, truly capitalist, lifestyle makes your days as a Labour PM ring very hollow to many including me.

The real cost of war

Today I read that the audited costs of the Iraq war for the USA are an estimated $767bn. With ongoing healthcare and support costs the final figure will be well over $1trillion. All nations make mistakes and enter wars they later deeply regret, including the UK. What saddens me is the total WASTE this represents: Saddam was no saint, neither are the Talibhan in Afghanistan, but there has to be a better way to change nations. The phrase "swords into ploughshares" comes to mind. Jaw jaw is better than war, war. Just think how $1 trillion could have been better used.  See also William Rivers Pitt | The United States of Aftermath.