NEIL MacKay states that the invasion of Iraq was “based on phoney claims cooked up by the Blair government, trailing after the Bush government” and suggests that Tony Blair could well be “consigned to the history books with blood all over his hands” 9”Blair’s Iraq war lies sowed the seeds that caused Brexit”, The Herald, January 8). I agree with these sentiments.

How Mr Blair has escaped any meaningful sanctions following his machinations leading up to the Iraq war remains a mystery to many. He was given a coat of whitewash through the Chilcot Inquiry.

However, the state of Iraq at present and the death of Dr David Kelly are, it is to be hoped, still pricking his conscience from time to time. Neil MacKay also blames sections of the media during the build up to the invasion of Iraq for amplifying the “lies of the Bush and Blair administrations”.

I would criticise those in the media today who give this tarnished former prime minister the opportunity to pontificate on Brexit and other matters. He appears to be more than willing to hand out advice, not only to dictators in various parts of the world, but also to a British public that was once so greatly deceived by him and his advisers.Who really wants to lend their ears to his man? I don’t.

Ian W Thomson,

38 Kirkintilloch Road, Lenzie.

IT would be so easy to forget about the Iraq war, unless you are an Iraqi who scrabbled frantically in the ruins of your home searching for your dead children, or screamed hysterically over the body of your dead mother, or were left to mourn for hundreds of thousands of your innocent countrymen amid the destruction of your country, left in ruins after being bombed and invaded by Britain and the United States; or unless you are a soldier left physically and mentally scarred, or the family of a soldier sent to war on a lie and who never returned.

Almost 16 years years after Britain and the United States attacked Iraq, leaving mayhem in their wake, Neil Mackay has reminded us of the horrors of that illegal, unjustified and immoral war and he is right: “the cancer of Iraq rotted Britain from the inside out”. I thank him for his insightful and powerful article and would only add that, while the innocent continue to suffer the legacy of that brutal war, the guilty walk free and prosper.

Ruth Marr,

99 Grampian Road, Stirling.

I COULD not agree more with Neil Mackay’s observation that Tony Blair’s lies over Iraq led to the distrust of the ordinary voter about the outpourings of elitist politician. The important point missed is that it was Jeremy Corbyn’s decision, in September of 2016, to vote down the Commons’ censure motion of Mr Blair that has disgusted a big enough proportion of Labour’s natural vote as to guarantee that the red rose will remain out of power for many years to come. Right, Left, liberal or communist: the political hierarchy looks after its own.

D H Telford,

11 Highfield Terrace, Fairlie.