when you use controlled force you always release much greater uncontrolled force esp if you disband the army and police. try doing that in britain and see what happens!
matthew misses the point.
america has become "the great satan"
it is now going bump and wont be able to carry on being nutters. neither will we!!

rod smith, manchester, england

We are in Afghanistan at the request of the Afghan government and the United Nations. NATO - of which we are a member - was asked by the UN to resppnd to the Afghan government's request for help to bring the rule of law to all parts of the country and help bring stability and assure its future.

It is worth stressing time and time again that IT IS NOT AN ILLEGAL WAR. The only shame regarding our role in Afghanistan is that some of the other NATO countries have been decidedly shameful, almost cowardly in their lack of support for this initaive. The Grermans and the French particularly - who could make a huge difference - have been particularly shameful.

Neither, by the way was the invasion of Iraq - which was again sanctioned by the UN and its legality confirmed by the Attorney General. However, I would agree that that is a more controversial view that lots of people (now) don't share, but at the time of the invasion, the vast majority of people supported it.

Stephen Edwards, Wokingham, UK

From where I sit, Blair gave every appearance of a man who hoped to see his statue stand outside Parliament next to those of Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher as a British war leader saving you all from destruction by a madman. Instead, he ensured that whatever reputation Britain had in the Middle East is now completely discredited and will remain so for years to come. It seems that neither he nor his hegemonistic partner George W. Bush will ever be called to account. You sat back and watched while Iraq was destroyed and thus you share the shame and blame for what was done to Iraq and its people. Live with it.

Michael, Vancouver, B.C. Canada.

If Saddam did actually have W.M.D's.

1) Would the United Sates have risked hundreds of thousands of soldiers lives, knowing that Saddam may use his weapons.

2) Would the United States send their soldiers without proper equipment to guard themselves againt nuclear/chemical weapons?

3) Why did Saddam not use his weapons and dug himself a hole?

Mohammed, London, UK

Whenever this story comes up people refer to Blair stating that Iraq had the capability to launch a WMD strike, this came from a speech in Parliament. However in the speech he actually said that Iraq `was developing the capability..', at that time most experts, including Kelly the scientist who committed suicide, thought this was true. Remember Iraq had actually used WMD on its own people. What caught everyone out was that Hussein by 2000 was paying a huge and very stupid bluff. Also remember that in the UK the Conservative party thought Blair was holding back and actually wanted military intervention sooner.

Finally the earlier war had never ended, there was constant military action throughout the 1990s

Stephen, Kent,

Whatever the rights and wrongs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan it has deteriorated into a battle between West and East - Christians against Islam. The dangers for world peace this perception brings far outweighs any small victories in either country. Surely our senior statesmen can see the damage that is being done?

Charlie Crawford, Liphook, Hampshire

I think the Iraqi war was unjustified and the evidence fabricated and exaggerated, so that, Blair could go to war and keep Bush happy. I also think Blair wanted a Falklands factor ! I think Blair should be bought to account and at least be deprived of his earnings from his memoirs.

We as citizens, have to pay for our errors, why not a politician !!

John Lecutier, Newark,

Hypocrisy - how many rape centers are still running now that Sadam and his despicable crew are no longer in power?

I well remember when the Falklands war was in full swing when we had people moaning about our intervention (whilst our troops were dying) I would personally happily have put MP Tam Dayal in the tower for treason at that time!

We are there in IRAQ (right or wrong) so live with it and do the best you can. I suppose the schools we are helping to build don't count for anything?
At least Tony Blair had the courage (however misguided) of his convictions.

I'm sick of the appeasers in this country first to moan last to do anything worthwhile when it comes to defending this country and trying to prevent or at least do something about murderous injustice elsewhere

James Brown, Nuneaton, Warwickshire

Israeli terrorism versus Arab terrorism, followed by Us. Israeli terrorism versus Arab terrorism, followed by Uk. US. Israeli terrorism versus Arab terrorism, followed by ?
Someone needs to close this box.

Roger, Cardiff,

My friends and family fight in afghanistan for what???? they ahve none of the correct equipment and are underpaid, time we show them respect and give them the pay and equipment they deserve to enable them to come home safe after 6 months abroad.

Sam, Rugeley,

Regarding opinion polls.
The YouGov Poll carried the question "Do you think the US and UK are/were right or wrong to take military action against Iraq."
In the weeks from the start of the war (March 20 2003) to July 22 2003, at least 50% of the people polled answered "right". It was only in May of 2004 that the majority decided that the action was wrong, which is a little bit like trying to change your bet after the race has started and your horse is not doing as well as anticipated.

Al, Weybridge, UQ

Lots of people (including many Iraqis) thought that getting rid of Sadam was a good thing... after all he was a mass murderer, responsible for genocide against the Shia and the Kurds. The problem was that none of those of us who initially supported the war had thought about what was going to happen afterwards. Unfortunately this ignorance was shared by the US and UK governments. If time had been taken to look at the consequences of overthrowing Sadam, in terms of sectarianism, Islamic extremism and Iran, then

Andrew brown, derby, UK

Does anyone else recall the opinion polls at the time, about whether we should go to war? They were at over 90% against, 93% is the figure I think I remember. Regardless, St Tony decided he had to mount his personal crusade to impose his understanding of democracy on Iraq. How does that work, then? What is the number of deaths now attributed to the Halliburton/Blair adventure? Is it between 250,000 and 650,000? Whichever, Tony was right about one thing, God will judge him.

Ned Zeppelin, Woolton, Liverpool

Well said Mr Parris.

Dan, London,

Somebody PLEASE tell why we are still in Afghansitan and what is there the slightest hope of achieving .

Aubrey , London,

Blair has spent untold billions on the Iraq war and thereis a lot more to be incurred.
What was it about Blair that led to this very srious and awful decision. Ego? Power? The USA reward for his services that can be measured in millions of dollars? The Highest American honor to put him in the same bracket as Martin Luther King?



Parliament should carry out an enquiry so thatwe all know the truth of the matter

Charles J Daniels, Lady Lake, FL USA

Until votes are weighed according to education, community service, citizenship status, age, time in country, and criminal record, we will always have a sub-prime civilian leadership endangering the World and stripping away the rights of citizens at home.

theantibush, honolulu, hawaii

I remember the petitions and the protests...and Blair said I must answer to God....

I was disgusted...he answers to the electorate , the people who put him in the position to be able to do this. Even more dispicable for people such as me who never voted for him.


But the Pope gave him an audience, speaks volumes....

jane, Saffron Walden, uk

Did any of you ever think that maybe there were WMDs?
America only gave Iraq six months notice prior to advance that we were coming. The same reason we have not caught UBL. Perhaps France, Germany, Russia, China all helped Saddam remove the WMDs to make America look foolish, Perhaps America did find WMDs but were sold by Americans or it's Allies, so we were told there were none to save face. Sense a theme here.
These are all conspiracy theory's. The sooner we all realize we know nothing but were told the better off everyone will be.

Tyler Law, Springfield, USA

Albert, Yes, there is nothing wrong with overthrowing a dictator. Mugabe is still in power. there are numerous other dictators around the world. However in this case the Dictator in question was supported by the West during most of his years in charge. In addition, the pretext of going to war was wrong. Now the dictator has been overthrown, thousands of civilians kileed (by both sides), cost of war in billions and no real end in sight, perhaps the time is right to get out and admit we erred. nothing wrong with that.

Hamad Lone, London, England

Mathew, since the bit in the Guardian David has been to dinner a few times and has been fortified against any doubt.
The great disaster these foolish people bought about needs to be defended to the last ditch, if only to convince themselves and their fellow travellers that the ghastly mess should not cause them doubt, loss of sleep or indeed, professional harm.
The same "clear" thinking used leading up to war needs now to be applied to sweep away their tracks in the sand and smear the bloody fingerprints on dodgy dossiers and childrens shrouds.

robert everitt, wolverhampton,

George, I assume that was a typo, and was meant to be 'conflicts'. I find myself generally agreeing with the article. Those 'weapons of mass destruction' have been conveniently forgotten by the powers-that-be. When they failed to turned up, surely that should have been a serious embarrassment for Mr Blair and others who insisted on their existence to justify attacking invading Iraq - if not a resigning matter.

Sarah, London, UK

Even the most dilettantish scholar of history will tell you that starting a war is a risky business because you don’t know for certain how it will end. Ergo, you have to have the most compelling reason for embarking on such an enterprise - a sexed up dossier is not enough – before risking an unforeseen denouement. The Iraqi war was cobbled together by some not very clever neo-cons (and a cuckoo British PM) who then stood by slack-jawed whilst it went to hell in a handcart. At its most pragmatic level, what was in it for us, the British people? Not much it has since transpired. Frankly, I’m astonished that someone of David Aaronovitch’s stature still supports it.

Trevellyan Black, Mayfair, England

Oh this is great. I'm forced to write in once a week about singular nouns conjugated with plural verbs (the government are useless, the public are angry etc etc ad nauseam) but this takes the biscuit! The conflict that are splitting the country? I'm giving up on the Times. Grauniad here I come.

George, La Rochelle, France

How anybody can be against ousting a dictator for any reason is beyond my belief. Can anybody explain that to me, because my explanation is that everybody who’s antiwar is just plain anti-US.
Personally I lost my belief in media and the left, but that’s nothing compared to other peoples losses.

Albert , Vaxjo, Sweden

I think by now if not much earlier everybody should have no other choice or argument againest classifying themselves as anti-war including Mr T. Blair.

Dr E Mohammed, Khartum, Sudan

I think I know where this author is coming from.

I never believed that the 'war' was justifiable. I never believed that that the UK was in imininant danger of missile attack from Iraq and if we were, in the light of 9/11, then we still needed to take the moral high ground and wait for an attack on the UK before we went to War. 'We' can't win otherwise.

All thats been done since that day is to stir up Religious Trouble thats been brewing since the Middle Ages and the last fall of Jerusalem.

Until Islam is reformed, which the Turkish Governement appears to be attempting, and "Christianity" and Judaism are united in their differences then nothing will change. There is no hope for any of us.

And that is from a hethan/heretic/agnostic. .

Phil Austin, RAUNDS, England