I could have stopped invasion - Jack Straw

The question is "Why didn't you?"

We want a "Public" enquiry on Iraq

Gordon Brown's announcement that an independent inquiry into the country's role in the Iraq War will be held in private, is just not good enough.

We Lib Dems want, demand an full open public enquiry. We are not alone in this the overwhelming majority of the public demands it and more poignantly so do the families of the 179 sevice personnel who've lost their lives there.

Iraq has been a terrible "adventure", horribly wrong and catastrphic for the Iraqi people, hundreds of thousands of whom have died and been injured, and millions made homeless or become refugees.

We Lib Dems were the ONLY major party against the war, and I fought Keighley in 2005 on a policy of withdrawal.

We need that full and open public enquiry now.

UK combat operations end in Iraq

After six years of an illegal, immoral, and unnecessary war, UK combat operations in Iraq ended in Basra.

This is not the time and place to go further into the whys and wherefores. Our thoughts turn to the nearly 200 service personnel who lost their lives in Iraq and of course their friends and family.

I am sure that there is a sense of relief for many that their final tour of Iraq is ending, and I look forward to welcoming them home.

However, we should not forget the toll on Iraq itself, with at least 100,000, and up to 1 million violent deaths as a result of the conflict.

The country is in a much worse condition than six years ago, its population depleted and demoralised, its infrastructure devastated.