BRITAIN’S invasion of Iraq in 2003 was a “strategic error” which triggered the civil war currently raging across the country, the recently retired head of the Armed Forces said yesterday.
A newly formed brigade of Iraqi Shiite fighters parade in military fatigues with their weapons [AFP/GETTY]In the past two weeks the radical Sunni Muslim Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isis) has swept through northern Iraq routing the forces of the largely Shia Muslim government.
Isis, which is too hard-line even for fellow extremists Al Qaeda, has boasted of executing large numbers of prisoners when taking Iraq’s second city, Mosul.
Its offensive has been boosted by the presence of British-born jihadis who are fighting alongside militants in both Syria and Iraq.
Yesterday Lord Richards, who retired as chief of the defence staff last year, told Sky News: “The invasion in 2003 was a strategic error.
“That is said with the benefit of hindsight...what it did was liberate a whole load of other forces, and we’re seeing that play through today.”
Britain lost 179 personnel in Iraq after Tony Blair took the country to war alongside America over Saddam Hussein’s alleged weapons of mass destruction. None were ever found. It has lost 453 personnel in Afghanistan since operations began in 2001.Lord Richards said Iraq’s fate could be repeated in Afghanistan when Nato troops withdraw unless the government in Kabul is given the support it needs.
He said: “For me it’s a wake-up call that if we don’t just honour our commitments to the people of Afghanistan made in very good faith...I fear what we are seeing in Syria and Iraq could happen in Afghanistan next year and the thing we should be focusing on now is containing this.”
Earlier this week Lord Richards used his maiden speech in the Lords to describe militant jihadism as the biggest threat confronting the free world.
He told Sky “positive action” is needed to ensure that more young Muslims in the UK do not become radicalised.
Last week three young British Muslims appeared on an Isis propaganda video urging others to come and join them in Syria and Iraq.
The Home Office last night said a hard-line Muslim cleric suspected of inspiring two of the young Britons has been banned from entering the UK.
Saudi-based Sunni Muslim cleric Mohammed al-Arifi, who has called for jihad against President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, preached in 2012 at a Cardiff mosque attended by the pair.
About 400 Britons have gone out to the Middle East to fight and about half have returned, with many thought to pose a terror threat.
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