Irish Examiner view: Iraq war casts long shadow over us all

Smoke covers the presidential palace compound in Baghdad on March 21, 2003, during a massive US-led air raid on the Iraqi capital. 

It seems like yesterday that the Iraq War was unleashed upon the world in what was one of the greatest foreign policy disasters in the history of the US. Yet it was 20 years ago this weekend that Operation Shock and Awe, the opening attacks against the regime of Saddam Hussein, were launched in a campaign that has changed the world, and not for the better.

In Ireland, we had been celebrating Best Mate’s second consecutive Cheltenham Gold Cup win, with Kerry’s Jim Culloty on his back. But the Irish Examiner leader writer was casting a bleak look at the looming crisis in the Middle East and, in particular, the willingness of our government to allow the military use of Shannon.