Ian Hislop has made an important point about the continuing violence and suffering in Iraq amid debate over the Chilcot report.
On Wednesday, Sir John Chilcot released his lengthy report on Britain’s part in the Iraq war. The “damning” summary of Tony Blair’s decision to lead the country to war concluded "that the UK chose to join the invasion of Iraq before the peaceful options for disarmament had been exhausted. Military action at that time was not a last resort".
The Chilcot report also found “the scale of the UK effort in post-conflict Iraq never matched the scale of the challenge” and “the risks of internal strife in Iraq, active Iranian pursuits of its interests, regional instability and al Qaeda activity in Iraq were explicitly identified before the invasion”.
On this week’s BBC Question Time, the results and efficacy of the report was debated at length.
Closing the discussion on the subject, Private Eye editor Hislop reminded the audience of the continuing violence in Iraq 13 years after British and American troops entered the country.
‘It’s just worth remembering 250 people died last weekend in one bomb blast in Baghdad. One.”
“Yes we’ve got to learn lessons about ourselves, but there are pretty huge repercussions in Iraq and there’s some very good foreign correspondent reports at the moment saying: ‘Do you know they’re not that bothered about our soul searching, they’re just still angry’.”
On Wednesday, it was announced the death toll for Sunday’s bombing in Baghdad – the deadliest explosion in the Iraqi capital since 2003 - had risen to 250. Isis have claimed responsibility for the car bombing which was detonated shortly after midnight in a popular shopping area filled with people just a few days before the Muslim festival Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan.
