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| Members of the Islam State of Iraq and Shaam (ISIS) with senior commander Abu Waheeb |
Tony Blair is attempting to “airbrush” his role in creating the violence engulfing Iraq, Nick Clegg has said.
The former Prime Minister is engaged in a “pointless academic exercise” to “pretend” the 2003 invasion of Iraq did not contribute to chaos and bloodshed consuming Iraq today.
Jihadist fighters from ISIS, an al-Qaeda aligned force, have entered from Syria and seized a string of Iraqi cities, committing massacres of Iraqi Army prisoners.
Britain will not provide “frontline” military support to the Iraqi government but will provide "passive assistance" to the United States in the case of airstrikes, Mr Clegg indicated.
Asked at his monthly press conference whether Britain would allow the United States to use airbases or airspace, Mr Clegg said: “We will not be providing active, frontline military resources to any action taken.
"But of course we will talk to America about what can be done. We are not going to stand in the way of military action that is well-judged and well-targeted to try and reassert some semblance of order in Iraq. I am certainly not suggesting we rule out passive assistance, even if we are not going to embark on active assistance.”
Only the United States has the military capacity to strike in Iraq and Britain should not “pretend” that it can, Mr Clegg said. » | Matthew Holehouse, Political Correspondent | Monday, June 16, 2014
