Echoes of Iraq invasion in Trump’s Iran plan

Prisoners being guarded at the Ramala oil fields in Iraq in, 2003. ‘Beating Iraq was clearly going to be relatively easy – what happened then was much harder and not clear.’ Photograph: Ian Jones/AFP/Getty Images

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