The Iraq invasion and its consequences, with 20 years of hindsight – BBC Newsnight

BBC News Mar 20, 2023 #Newsnight #BBCNews

It’s 20 years since US and British forces invaded Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. The then US Secretary of State Colin Powell declared the time for diplomacy over, British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook resigned, and the second UN resolution authorising force was withdrawn. George W Bush, who was then president of the US, issued a 48-hour ultimatum to Saddam to leave Iraq or face war. What followed still reverberates today, from hundreds of thousands of deaths and missing weapons of mass destruction, to elections, the growing influence of Iran, the rise of ISIS, and the impact on US and British politics and foreign policy. Newsnight’s Diplomatic Editor Mark Urban reports.

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