https://arab.news/zn6jn
Ever since the mid-1990s, I have been deeply involved in the debates on every foreign intervention the UK has and has not made in the Middle East. This has meant protracted meetings with ministers, parliamentarians and officials, as well as debates in the media.
Yet one thing stands out in 2026 and the US-Israeli war on Iran: This is by far the most low-grade debate on any conflict Britain has engaged in over the last three decades.
Even in the run up to the Iraq war in 2002 and 2003, the analysis and debate were of a higher caliber. But it does not appear that the UK experience is unique.
The tenor of the debate has descended into a farcical mishmash of chest-thumping, hyperbolic histrionics and cheap political point-scoring. War is being trivialized. The White House’s advert promoting the war was a stunning example of this.
