Those who have served in the forces have been very brave and we have no quarrel with them as individuals. And we share the pain of those families who have lost their men in this as in all other wars.

Our problem is with those who made the decisions to send you in to war. We know that having these invasions have made our world a more dangerous place. Not the safer one that the government would have you believe. Every time you invade, you raise the stakes, it is like a red rag to a bull. Keeping troops based in Saudi Arabia, all that time you supported Israel's occupation of the West Bank, has just given the angry young men in the Middle East all the ammunition they need to get hotheaded about fighting back. And yes, they see it as fighting back. It is hard to see it from their perspective, but you have to try, if you want to understand what is really going on.