OpEd - SubScribe14

The commentators 24-06-14

...on Iraq

We have to squash the idea, encouraged by Saudi clerics, that Iraq should be turned into a showdown between Sunnis and Shia Muslims. Saudi Arabia became our ally because it guaranteed the oil that kept our economies moving. Now its actions are destabilising Iraq, which has the world’s second largest oil reserves. That’s not what we agreed when King Abdul Aziz got his airborne throne.
- Roger Boyes, The Times

We’ve done plenty of ignorant things in Iraq and Egypt. But we also helped open their doors to a different future, which their leaders have slammed shut for now. Going forward, where we see people truly committed to pluralism, we should help support them. And where we see islands of decency threatened, we should help protect them. But this is primarily about them, about their need to learn to live together without an iron fist from the top, and it will happen only when and if they want it to happen.
- Thomas L Friedman, International New York TImes

When Britain is under threat, the temptation is always to over-react. Hence the stains on British history ranging from miscarriages of justice to misbegotten foreign adventures, such as Iraq, to domestic remedies that merely exacerbate real and present dangers.
- Mary Riddell, Telegraph

We, like many, are appalled by Iraq's descent into a sectarian conflict that threatens its very existence as a nation, as well as the security of its neighbours. We are also dismayed, however, at Tony Blair's recent attempts to absolve himself of any responsibility for the current crisis by isolating it from the legacy of the Iraq war.
- Noam Chomsky, Sir Richard Dalton, Caroline Lucas, Ken Livingstone and others in an open letter in the Guardian

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Stevie Spring

The annual Editorial Intelligence comment awards were officially launched yesterday with the announcement of the seventy-strong panel of judges to be led by Stevie Spring, chair of Children in Need.
They include Lorraine Heggessey, Nihal Arthanayake, Karren Brady, Damian Barr, Lynne Franks, Nicky Gavron, Laura Kuenssberg, Adrian Monck and Kirsty Lang.
Anyone is invited to nominate their favourite commentators for the awards, which are divided into 16 categories. There is no charge for entry.

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