Richard Cockett
Where Will It End?
ISIS: A History
By Fawaz A Gerges
Princeton University Press 368pp £19.95 order from our bookshop
Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS
By Joby Warrick
Corgi Books 473pp £8.99 order from our bookshop
Blood Year: Islamic State and the Failures of the War on Terror
By David Kilcullen
Hurst 288pp £9.99 order from our bookshop
Despite its inordinate length, the very long-awaited Chilcot Inquiry into Britain’s role in the invasion of Iraq, due to be published on 6 July 2016, probably won’t deal with the rise of the terrorist group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). If it were to, however, it would conclude that the spread of ISIS was in part provoked by the chaos, instability and civil wars that ensued in Iraq and beyond after the toppling of Saddam Hussein. This was clearly Britain and America’s fault, the consequence of political arrogance and grossly inadequate planning for the postwar period, whatever Tony Blair might say to the contrary after the report’s release.
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