Iraq was a terrible war – but it cannot excuse our failure to confront the tyranny we face today

In 2013, MPs voted narrowly to reject a motion that would have allowed David Cameron to authorise military action in Syria. A year earlier, President Obama warned that the deployment of chemical weapons would be a "red line". They were used; he did nothing. Half a million people have died; terrible crimes have been committed. The war continues, but the dictator Bashar al-Assad, supported by Russia, has largely prevailed. In 2014, a few months after the US, UK and their allies washed their hands of that country, Vladimir Putin launched his first invasion of Ukraine (via proxies) and annexed Crimea….