We should be careful when blaming individuals for the Iraq War

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Tony Blair arrives back at his home after a press conference following the outcome of the Iraq Inquiry report (Getty)

I fear we are in danger of making a bad situation worse.

It is clear that the Iraq campaign was marked by poor planning and inadequate intelligence assessment. But, we must not conflate these with decisions taken in good faith.

To personalise the criticism onto one, or a few people would be to avoid the need to learn the lessons of history – thus condemning us to repeating it. To make the conclusions centre around the character of an individual would be to miss the point entirely.

Worse, we stand in danger of alienating the USA, our key ally, by allowing our conversations to descend into blaming them for our own inadequacies. The Americans stood firm against evil aggression, as they have always done in times of crisis; we should remember that and be thankful.

We were told during the EU Referendum campaign that we need to focus on our international relations – let us be careful to do this now!

Adrian Rowles
Chesterfield

Let's hope the female Tory leadership contenders fight for women's rights

The idea that two women will be vying for the post of prime minister in the UK cannot repudiate the fact that women remain victims of domestic violence, poverty, homelessness, climate change, male patriarchy, family feuds, sexual harassment, abuse and servitude, illiteracy, extreme ideologies and income disparity.

Women are half of society. They are pivotal in political, social, economic and cultural advancement of societies. As the ongoing tragedy in Syria and the massive refugee exodus have shown, women and children suffer more disproportionately from natural and man-made disasters.

They continue to face steep challenges in the pursuit of their legitimate aspirations and basic human rights, they continue to be systematically marginalised, and they face gender bias and social exclusion. This is not the fifteenth century. Regrettably, for over 600 million girls in the 21st century, inequality, indignity, injustice and ignorance are their day to day lives.

Empowering women has demonstrated that they give multiples of what they receive. There are many women who were transformational leaders. Let us hope one of the two contenders will champion women causes. As Queen Rania of Jordan elegantly put it: “When a woman succeeds, she reaches out to those around her and pulls them up with her. That is why if you empower a woman, you empower a whole society."

Munjed Farid Al Qutob
London, NW2

Can the new Conservative leader heal the wounds of the past?

Which is the worst Conservative Prime Minister? The one who sent the armed forces to destroy a foreign nation state and divided his own nation, or the other who broke his “One Nation” into three and divided his people into two?

Can another Conservative Prime Minister heal the damage? May be she can, May be she can't.

Tim Harris
Bridgnorth

Targeting Brexiteers furthers our societal divide

Having myself voted Remain, I am appalled that so many people who did the same are now demonising people who didn’t.

Brexiteers aren’t some alien, malevolent and moronic tribe. They are ordinary people of all ages, classes, and educational levels, and are found in all regions – albeit in varying proportions. Many Brexiteers agree with many Bremainers on many things, and disagree with their fellow-Brexiteers on many things. Just not this thing.

And even on this thing, there’s actually a range of views – diehard Brexiteers at one end and dyed-in-the-wool Bremainers at the other, with a great deal of uncertainty in the middle. It only seems otherwise now because, on the day, we all had to vote one way or the other (or not vote at all). A forced dichotomy, you might say.

But if Bremainers keep banging on about the awfulness of Brexiteers, they risk making the dichotomy all too real and all too permanent. Which would be unutterably stupid.

Oliver Wright
Oxford

The Iraq War has made the world a more dangerous place

Tony Blair claims that invading Iraq has made the world safer today.

Iran was heading back towards the secular state is used to be under the Shah – with added democracy – when we invaded their neighbours. This scared the westernised pants off the Iranians, and drove them back into the arms of the Mullahs.

Iran today is a product of our invasion. Without the Iraq war Iran might well have been a shining Middle Eastern democracy. And Blair calls this a safer world?

Barry Tighe
Address supplied

Politicians need to be held to account

It seems very surprising that we as a nation are turning a blind eye to the deceit tactics pulled by Johnson and Gove over the consequences of the UK leaving the EU. There will not be spare cash for the NHS, or less bureaucracy.

These guys chose to exaggerate to persuade the electorate. And it seems that no-one thinks that their behaviour should be recognised as misconduct in public office.

We should expect truth from our politicians and should take them to task, through prosecution in law, rather than embrace and protect them because they have friends in Parliament, or pretend (sometimes) to be oblivious.

Perhaps the public would be more able to trust politicians if they were properly held to account.

Trevor Carthy
Address supplied

Hindsight is a dangerous thing

Reading about Chilcot I am reminded that the "retrospectroscope" is the most dangerous of all medical instruments.

Kirsten Park
Dalrymple

Political patterns are emerging

Thanks to the Chilcot Report, we now have in writing what we already knew, namely that Tony Blair took the country to war on the basis of lies, half-truths and fabrications. Fourteen years later, the Leave camp won the referendum with a campaign based on lies, half-truths and fabrications. Anyone see a pattern emerging, here?

Rob Prince
London