But it cannot follow that because weapons and troops are now being deployed we are bound to go to war.

It was essentially for self defence that we went to war in Afghanistan and would go to war in Iraq.

Our motives (for war against Iraq) are becoming mixed as extra motives are thrown into the pot.

There is no consensus even today on the merits of Napoleon - and certainly no agreement on the rights and wrongs of the origins of the First World War.

We, Britain and Germany, can neither of us be happy about our handling of the Iraq war.

Men like Hitler and Stalin and their immediate lieutenants cannot plead in defence of their actions that these were justified by the accepted values of that time.