NEMESIS

"Iraq today is as far-removed from a peaceful settlement as it was in the spring of 2003…" Given that Con Coughlin was an unabashed supporter of going to war against Saddam, his essay in today’s Telegraph makes all the more painful reading. As for the consequences for the Anglo-American partnership, well...

A former high-ranking British intelligence officer who was also involved in the planning for post-war Iraq was even more critical of Washington's attitude. "We were completely and utterly stuffed by the Americans. We should never trust them again, or at least until we see a change of attitude from the Bush administration. Forget what they say, it's what they do. They simply didn't take any notice of any of the advice we gave them. They just did what suited them.

And this assertion is sure to stir all sorts of responses:

One of the more unpalatable characteristics of the neo-cons, many of whom have close associations with the hard Right in Israel, was their disregard for the wishes of the Iraqi people. Their principal Iraqi contact before the war was Ahmed Chalabi, an exiled politician who had fled the country as a child in the 1950s and was unknown inside Iraq. Chalabi had seduced his neo-con admirers with the promise that, under his leadership, Iraq would establish diplomatic relations with Israel, a far-fetched proposition given Iraq's long-standing role as the standard-bearer of Arab nationalism.