At the final meeting prior to the invasion of Iraq between UK chiefs of staff (of which I was one), the then prime minister Tony Blair, the defence secretary, senior Ministry of Defence officials and the foreign secretary, in the Old War Office building in March 2003, I asked what the plans were for phase four of the war that was about to start (ie what were the plans for actions after we had won).
We were told by the prime minister that the Americans had this all in hand. I asked if we could see their plans and was told we would. I saw nothing before or after the war started. Beating Iraq was clearly going to be relatively easy – what happened then was much harder and not clear. The same seems to be true of Donald Trump’s war against Iran.
Alan West
Labour, House of Lords
• Simon Tisdall’s assertion that the US is the enemy is painful for me to hear as an American who values our long, two-way friendship – but it is hard to deny its truth (The first lesson of war is ‘know your enemy’, 8 March).
America isn’t really an enemy to the UK specifically, but it is no longer a friend to the free world. For most of us, it is heartbreaking to see our long-lasting democracy crumble.
Spencer Hines
Germantown, Maryland, US
• Since Donald Trump no longer needs our military help (Report, 8 March), maybe we should send our aircraft carrier to Greenland, where it could deter any power that may have evil intent.
Margaret Squires
St Andrews, Fife
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