I never expected that the Arab Spring would be followed by anything except an unending winter of war and famine that would freeze, shrivel and maim any tender shoots of democracy that had just here and there taken precarious root in the inhospitable climate of the Middle East.

It might have turned out better had there been an Anglo-American plan not just to bring down Saddam Hussein but to provide for an effective government which could command support from both the Sunni and Shia communities. However that was not to be. A war which had started on a false prospectus built on rumour rather than hard intelligence of Iraqi stocks of weapons of mass destruction has led to the protracted instability that has now engulfed Syria and led to one appalling tragedy after another.

I doubt if President Assad was ever any more a nice man than Saddam. What is certain that Western, particularly Anglo-American, attempts to bring him down have pushed him further and further into extremism and strengthened Isil.