Britain and more bloodshed in Iraq

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Iraq’s sectarian war | James Steele: America’s mystery man | Guardian Investigations

As Isis closes in on Baghdad – find out how US funded torture centres helped fuel the sectarian war in Iraq.

James Steele: America’s mystery man in Iraq. A 15-month investigation by the Guardian and BBC Arabic revealed how retired US colonel James Steele, a veteran of American proxy wars in El Salvador and Nicaragua, played a key role in training and overseeing US-funded special police commandos who ran a network of torture centres in Iraq.

Another special forces veteran, Colonel James Coffman, worked with Steele and reported directly to General David Petraeus, who had been sent into Iraq to organise the Iraqi security services.

By Will Stone in Britain:

Trigger-happy MPs heading for catastrophe

Thursday 4th September 2014

Trigger-happy politicians were told to learn from recent history yesterday as they mulled military intervention against so-called Islamic State (Isis) militants.

Peace campaigners warned another war in the region would be “an absolute catastrophe.”

But PM David Cameron told a sombre House of Commons that Britain would not be “cowed” in the wake of the beheading of a second US journalist, Steven Sotloff, and a threat from Isis that a British hostage will be next.

The same Briton who killed US journalist James Foley, nicknamed “jihadi John,” was thought to be behind Tuesday’s murder.

Meanwhile Labour’s Jack Straw, who was foreign secretary at the time of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, insisted that Britain should join the US air strikes against Isis.

Mr Straw believed “pressure for some kind of military involvement” would build up given the fresh threat to British hostages.

But he sought to downplay the disastrous impact of the 2003 invasion, saying Britain should learn from the past but not be paralysed by it.

Stop the War Coalition national officer Chris Nineham warned MPs should not underestimate the devastating impact of the Iraq war.

He said: “Any escalation of the attack on Iraq would be an absolute catastrophe. It’s unbelievable that politicians are even considering going there in light of the disaster that has been caused by the previous intervention in Iraq.

“They’ve clearly learned absolutely nothing from recent history. The only possible consequence of further intervention would be greater bitterness towards the Western powers and it will no doubt strengthen militant resolve rather than neutralise it.”

Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn warned that if military intervention was disastrous before “it will be even worse next time.”

He told the Star: “We have been involved in a series of wars since 2001. This has only served to encourage militancy elsewhere and, in the case of the Middle East, the growth of the Isis forces.”

Mr Cameron likened the fight against Islamic extremism to the cold war during PMQs, adding that it was a “struggle” that would last for “decades.”

Communist Party of Britain general secretary Rob Griffiths suggested that all assistance to Iraqi and Kurdish governments should be sanctioned and co-ordinated by the UN, rejecting another Nato “intervention.”

“Unilateral Nato intervention is proving to be a disaster in Libya,” he said.