WORLD_ Britain must support America's effort in Iraq – if our crippled military still can

Britain must support America's effort in Iraq – if our crippled military still can

By Con Coughlin -  World  -  Last updated: August 8th, 2014

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The Telegraph

*** Con Coughlin Con Coughlin is the Telegraph's Defence Editor and a world-renowned expert on global security and terrorism issues. He is the author of several critically acclaimed books. His new book, Churchill's First War: Young Winston and the fight against the Taliban, is published by Macmillan in London and Thomas Dunne Books in New York. He appears regularly on radio and television in Britain and America. ***


Three years after US President Barack Obama turned his back on Iraq by ordering the withdrawal of American troops, he now finds himself having to order military intervention against an Iraqi foe that is infinitely more lethal than anything American forces encountered during their troubled campaign in the aftermath of Saddam Hussein's overthrow.

In 2011 Mr Obama, who wants to go down in history as the president who ended America's long involvement in Iraq, withdrew US forces arguing that he could not get sufficient safeguards from Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki that American troops would be immune from prosecution in Iraqi courts if they remained.

I thought this was a pretty lame excuse at the time – Washington could easily have got a deal if it really wanted one – and now we are reaping the appalling consequences of that decision in the form of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis), which is now seeking to destroy Iraq's ancient Christian and Yazidi communities.

Even the conflict-averse Mr Obama has now been forced to intervene, by ordering his forces to drop emergency supplies to the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who have been forced to flee their homes and take to the inhospitable mountain region of northern Iraq, where they are exposed to the elements without food, water and shelter.

All of this could have been avoided, of course, if Mr Obama, rather than turning his back on Iraq, had maintained a small military presence that would have allowed Washington to maintain some influence over the Maliki government, thereby preventing the development of the deep sectarian divisions that have led to the present crisis.

For the moment Mr Obama just wants to limit American action to dropping humanitarian supplies to the refugees, and threatening to bomb Isis convoys if they directly target American interests.

Now the pressure will be on Britain, which similarly turned its back on Iraq when Gordon Brown ordered British troops to withdraw from Basra, to decide whether it wants to support the American effort. The answer, of course, should be a resounding yes – assuming, that is, we have the capability to do so after the Coalition's ill-advised defence cuts.

But whatever action we might take to relieve the terrible suffering of the refugees is not going to tackle the real cause of the crisis – the murderous threat posed by Isis.

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