So predictable from the anti-war people that they should jump on the latest 'top secret' memo from MI5 claiming that the war in Iraq has made us a target for terrorism (and here comes the new bit) for many years to come.

Wow, I'm impressed. The hamster guy says

'Blair puts great store in always believing what the security services tell him. Presumably then, we'll now see him publically accept what's been glaringly obvious to most people for some considerable time. Oh wait - Blair saw this memo before the attacks in London last year. How strange that he, of all people, should misrepresent the judgement of the intelligence services to the British people...'

Rachel from North London says

'Finally, they cannot deny it any longer: this war has led to hatred and terror and suicide bombings in the U.K. Blair knew this risk, and he denied it, and he went ahead with the war, and he lied about the reasons for the war and the risks and consequences of the war - and people were murdered because of this.'

Both of them are wrong, but let's start with the obvious point:

One memo doth not a scandal make. Memos, rather surprisingly, are ten a penny, and say all sorts of things. Anyone who read the Hutton report will know something about the potential for contradictory noise at the highest level. What the anti-war types don't seem to realise is that these memos are only released for trite politicised reasons, to stir up the rabble. Well, at any rate they barely realise it, and that's really undermining to their credibility, and sanity. I don't accuse Blair of misrepresenting the evidence because I don't know the full range of evidence he was faced with and, on balance, formed a judgement. With that judgement were pros and cons and I don't think that was ever denied.

Secondly, I'd say I'm no fan of the endless alternative histories we find put forward, but nonetheless I'd like to see these people come up with a 2006 scenario where the threat of terrorism hadn't grown, given the trendlines of the previous 30 years.

And that's enough really. I'd add I'm not happy with our supercillious pols, but I think a bigger problem is the fashionable ignorance of the pampered chatterers who throw round accusations of lies like confetti at a wedding. (and yes, I acknowledge RfNL's trauma in July, without considering it a free logic pass)