British general, Sir Richard Dannatt, is willing to name the Iraq war for what it is.  His honest is bracing:

Sitting in an armchair in his office at the Ministry of Defence, he
declares simply: "I am going to stand up for what is right for the
Army. "Honesty is what it is about. The truth will out. We have got to
speak the truth. Leaking and spinning, at the end of the day, are not
helpful."

    And what is the truth that will out?

Sir Richard’s lead in shining a light on the Armed Forces extends to
the mission in Iraq. He says with great clarity and honesty that "our
presence exacerbates the security problems". "I think history will show
that the planning for what happened after the initial successful
war-fighting phase was poor, probably based more on optimism than sound
planning.

"History will show that a vacuum was created and into the vacuum malign
elements moved. The hope that we might have been able to get out of
Iraq in 12, 18, 24 months after the initial start in 2003 has proved
fallacious. Now hostile elements have got a hold it has made our life
much more difficult in Baghdad and in Basra.

"The original intention was that we put in place a liberal democracy
that was an exemplar for the region, was pro-West and might have a
beneficial effect on the balance within the Middle East.

"That was the hope. Whether that was a sensible or naïve hope, history
will judge. I don’t think we are going to do that. I think we should
aim for a lower ambition."

Sir Richard adds, strongly, that we should "get ourselves out
sometime soon because our presence exacerbates the security problems".

 Can we give this man a Confucian medal for sincerity?  It is speech like this that will enable the noble-minded to act.