British army officially withdraws from Iraq

Today control of Basra airport was handed over to the Americans, meaning that the British army is now no longer in charge of any part of Iraq.

Most of the 4,100 troops will leave by May 31. 300 will stay to stay to train the Iraqi military.

Lucky for Gordon Brown. The Iraq invasion did huge damage to the electoral chances of the Labour Party. It started the slow decline of Prime Minister Tony Blair, and did not help Brown.

Now Brown can boast of being the Prime Minister who removed British troops from Iraq, albeit very slowly.

Iraq was costly both in money and lives. While Gordon of Harry's Place felt the war was the right thing, many including me disagreed, and still disagree. Some, including many Tory MP's, became wise after the event.

And troops from across the world are still fighting in Afghanistan, while hell continues in the Congo.

Jasmina Tešanović's moving story of living in Serbia during the NATO bombings reminds us how terrible war is.

Although I disagree with Tony Benn on a few things (though he's still somewhat of a hero), I agree with him when he attacks those who have no ideas of the horrors of war.

With death and destruction brought by suicide bombers, brutal regimes such as North Korea and the feral, I also remember his quote "A faith is something you die for, a doctrine is something you kill for. There is all the difference in the world."