So, Tony Blair finally figures that the invasion of Iraq was a bad idea.He thinks that they had faulty intelligence, bad planning and no clue of what would happen once Saddam was removed. (though he is not sorry for removing Saddam).  If only he had listened to what most people were saying, including the United Nations. This was Blair and Bush pretending to be Indiana Jones but turning out to be Dr.Dang instead.

The world is still counting the dead, the destroyed, and the devastated. The developmental consequences of this will take decades, if not centuries to solve.

And, then there is ISIS. Nature abhors a vacuum, and one controlled nutcase was  replaced by a hydra-like set of anarchic nutcases that are imperiling the region, but cutting a swathe dipped in terror, through the geographies that the UK, the US and their allies in the invasion, sought to ‘liberate’ and bring democracy.

A hall mark of a modern State is less Democracy – the right to choose your party to Govern, at regular elections – but also an Egalitarian Republic. A State based on the rule of law, where citizens (including women and minorities and dissenters) are treated equally and equitably in the eyes of the law and the State. This is the very least. On top of this you add layers of social security to protect the most vulnerable in society. and, you implement laws that protect the most vulnerable from exploitation. The major folly of the modern Imperial powers – who want to control without governing – was that rather than work with the nation builders – the constitutionalists, the non governmental agencies working in the area of rights, the home grown political movements – they worked with external wannabe potentates, who wanted to transplant the West to the region. And, backed by artillery, infantry and air power. With a barely literate, barely intelligent fighting force that shot first and asked questions later. An invading army that looked at shooting locals as a video game rather than actions with consequences.

Forget a set of democratic republics for now. Hope for benevolent strong men who will steer the nations to peace, and getting back to a basic standard of living. Democracy and republics grow from this. Countries ravaged by civil war, fratricidal blood letting and a all permeating aura of terror, are not going to suddenly transform into stable democratic republics. Right now they need protectors. Not elected representatives. This mess will take a few generations to sort out. And, as it gets sorted out there will be more rivers of blood that flow.

This is what Bush & Blair have sown. And, this is what the rest of the world will reap.