We need Chilcot’s lessons from Iraq now – before we bomb Syria

As MPs prepare to vote on whether or not the RAF should bomb Syria, theChilcot report on the 2003 invasion of Iraq – the policy decision now widely recognised as the original sin that paved the way for Islamic State – should have been essential reading.

MPs have instead been summoned to meetings to talk to “experts” – David Cameron’s reference to intelligence agencies that he is reluctant to identify after the disaster in Iraq. We are having to wait until next summer, more than 13 years after the invasion, to hear what Chilcot says about “lessons learned”, the main purpose of his inquiry.