THE handing over of Basra to the Iraqis is a welcome development.

However, we should not forget that we were lied to about the reasons behind the war and lied to about its outcome.

While Sadam was an oppressive dictator, removing him didn’t make Iraq a better place. I was told by Iraqis who opposed Sadam’s rule that within six weeks of the first Gulf War in 1991, Sadam, who was brought to power with the help of the CIA in the 1970s, managed to restore supplies of clean water and electricity.

Women then made up about 50 per cent of university students and the workforce.

The allies have failed to deliver that, six years after the invasion.

Not only that, but the British forces made an alliance with fundamentalist sectarian paramilitaries who were allowed to impose strict rules that wouldn’t allow women to leave the house without male company.

They also infiltrated the security forces which they used in order to carry out sectarian cleansing of the Sunnis who lived in Shiah areas.

While we remember the brave 179 British soldiers who lost their lives, we should not forget the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who died as a result of the war, the millions who became refugees and the hundreds of thousands of children who died as a result of 12 years of sanctions prior to the war.

Mohammed Samaana, Headington, Oxford