Teribus, Carne Ross's paper outlining alternatives to war, including targeting Iraq's illegal oil revenues, was not presented to Cabinet. It would seem that as well as not bothering to watch Blair's testimony yesterday you also didn't bother to find out what he said. Might it be sensible to stand back from arguing about that until you've had a chance to catch up?

One of the most striking aspects of yesterday's performance was Blair's innocent bewilderment that destabilising Iraq actually made Iran stronger. Some of us right here on Mudcat were anticipating that consequence long before the invasion How could it have been otherwise?
Indeed Norman Schwazkopf had long-since presented that as one of the reasons for not removing Saddam the first time round.

Poor old Blair was left huffing and puffing that if he had his way, Iran "would be next." With whose army? The US-UK axis is already overstretched and couldn't even contemplate intervention in Yemen, never mind Pakistan or Iran. Why, horror of horrors, they're having to put millions of dollars on the table to entice the Taliban into a negotiated resolution of the quagmire they've created in Afghanistan! That's some victory our boys are notching up over there, Teribus.

Oh, and it's Blix, Teribus. Not Bilx. Slow down!