Small Wars Journal

New Book Deems Iraq War Britain's 'Most Failed Outcome Since Suez'

Mon, 12/17/2018 - 12:23am

New Book Deems Iraq War Britain's 'Most Failed Outcome Since Suez' by Sholto Byrnes - The National

It is 15 years since Saddam Hussein was captured by US troops. Given the numerous inquiries that have taken place, and the flood of histories, analyses and op-eds that have been written about the second Iraq War, one might well ask if we really need any more books on the subject. Yes, is the answer, at least after reading Patrick Porter’s well-researched, elegant and succinctly written “J’accuse” directed at the hawks and ­liberal idealists who led Britain into what he calls: “the country’s first military-strategic failure since the withdrawal from Aden in 1967, its largest-scale combat since Korea in 1950, its most failed outcome since Suez in 1956, and its most polarising campaign since the South African war of 1899.”

Read on.