15/06/2014 The Papers

up a stage of the British baton relay. The Commonwealth really is on

a tour of Scotland ahead of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. Hello

and welcome to a look ahead. We are looking at the papers. I am joined

by two reporters. Let's take a look at the front pages. The Independent

leads with the reported execution of dozens of Iraqi soldiers by

insurgents. The Financial Times also highlights the crisis and says

President Obama is deciding whether to launch the strikes. The Daily

Telegraph has the same we'd but focuses on obese patients having to

have any chess beds widened. The express revealed that delaying

retirement by two years good boost pensions by 25%. And Tony Blair

distancing himself from any responsibility for the problems in

Iraq. The Daily Mail looks ahead to the football game against Uruguay.

Now that you would expect on a number of front pages. Islamist

execute dozens of soldiers as Iraq slides towards sectarian war, says

the Independent. The pictures have not been independently verified yet

but the feeling is that given the tactics used these beheadings and

executions might be true. You'll macro it is the latest brutality

across the region. As the Independent puts it, the country is

sliding to all`out sectarian war. The advance of Isis is slowing as

they reach Shia dominated areas. It depends on whether it should be

allowed to turn into an all`out sectarian war. It is the tragic and

brutal situation. Any analysis of who is gaining territory? It is a

volatile situation in Iraq, the government seems to think it is very

gaining the upper hand in places. That needs to be treated with

caution. These pictures have not been verified and while it is

reasonable to assume Isis are brutal and have a trademark of death squads

and headings, to assume they carried out these attacks, there have not

been any independent eyewitnesses of bodies or believes. The figures are

they being wildly in figures of the arrested Iraqi army, it is going

from hundreds to thousands. We really just do not know. This is

what Isis wants us to think and once the Iraqi army to think. This is

propaganda. It is debatable as to how much support they have in the

wider Suni population. Some of the soldiers who appeared to be killed

in the massacre were Suni, it was not just Shia soldiers who died.

That is true. It will not be supported by a great number in the

region. They have not been allowed to take power in the region because

of mistakes that have been made by Baghdad and the West. Either way,

this type of intimidation is very typical of Isis. They are letting

people know what is in store for them letting people flee. They have

been able to sweep through the region with these kind of tactics

and that may stop given that it is getting closer to Baghdad. It speaks

to the discontent with the current Prime Minister. He is the one we

have been throwing money at. He has been the strong man entrusted to

hold it all together and has only entrusted brutal authorities Ian

tactics of his own. It speaks of discontent with that government that

Isis have been able to do this. They have been providing the very social

services that the Iraqi government has failed to do so the fact people

are acquiescing if not actively supporting their military successes

is no great surprise in that context. Onto the Financial Times,

how they are treating this story. The headline is, Iraq militants

advance slows. A few days ago the Iraqis were saying we need some

international support for this, now it appears they feel they might have

regain the initiative. A couple of days ago Barack Obama was saying he

needed time to think about this. He is under pressure from some back

home. Now we enter American politics when it comes to war. The case of

this particular story reports a South Carolina Republican who says

we must cooperate with Baghdad. Anyone who understands this will

know this is an extraordinary U`turn. She he is one of the most

outspoken conservatives. For him to make this enormous U`turn speaks

partly to the turnaround in the situation in Iraq itself but also it

says something about American politics. The Republican party. That

they would make such an extraordinary about`face. Not just

about Barack Obama but in order to do this constant sense of having to

be involved and moving with the tide to be seen as driving the situation

in the Middle East. For a party who until recently was being macro Iran

is the greatest threat to world peace, to say we have to stand by

these guys as we take on the Suni militants. Since McCain on words

they have been calling for military strikes which, for anyone who has

been following this since 2003 knows, it is pretty much the worst

thing you can do at the moment. It is one thing to see a war you do not

like but within a matter of days to change your mind about who the war

should be against. I have been reading this article about what

Lindsay Graham has been saying to CBS in America. Why did we not do

away with Stalin? He was not as bad as Hitler. It is better to deal with

Iran than what is going on in Iraq. It is the antithesis of the sensible

vision of the world to say make a deal with Stalin because he is

better than Hitler. It is a childlike analogy to make. This

whole debate is full of childlike analysis. One thing which keeps

coming up is was it better under Saddam Hussein? I do not know how

many more Iraqis have to die before we can answer that question with a

yes. It clearly was. The Daily Telegraph says you Millie did and

executed by jihadist firing squads. `` humiliated and executed. The

picture shows men taking aim at what appears to be Iraqi soldiers in

plain clothes. Tony Blair has been on the TV today heavily criticised

for putting the blame on the current generation of British politicians

and also saying the atmosphere and conditions of the moment are to

blame for what is happening now, not the 2003 invasion which he was keen

to lead us to. A lot of this blueprint for peace in the Middle

East is quite sensible. The problem is that you can never detach it from

the man himself and his record. One year ago he was advocating a war in

Syria. More importantly, you cannot detach it from the fact in 2003 he

with. One might say in order to make an omelette you have to break a few

ex`at this advice comes from the man who threw eggs on the floor, stamped

on them and said this makes a complete meal. I want to note the

moment at which some of his politicians who are now getting this

advice, who were around then, at what point will be turned to ours

and the macro sorry for creating this victory should and now

arrogantly telling us how to clear up. Was it the initial determination

to see regime change that was wrong? They did not have a plan in

place for when the country fell. There was no need for the invasion,

it was illegal and contravened all the conventions. There was a brutal

dictator in place. That is remove dictators, why tech Saddam

Hussein? The lack of consideration for Iraqis and not having any kind

of follow`through or that the state was completely gutted, all of the

institutions dismantled, the military and

security, then these sectarian tensions were actively

the Coalition Government in the aftermath will stop. Full. I want to

move onto one other story on the Telegraph. I'd macro NHS having to

reinforce beds to cope with beasts patients. It is just one of many

measures to cope with morbidly beasts patients. Politicians have

been banging on about not messing with lives of the individual. I

agree with them, we do not want to be told what to do. Things like in

schools, sports should be important and you should eat healthy food. We

need to be honest about the weight problem in this country. To talk

about it in popular culture and reintroduce a sense of self

responsibility, people taking responsibility for their own

condition. One in ten deaths in England and Wales is related to

obesity so this is a health crisis. There are concerns over the cost of

alcohol, we learned when we can smoke, the marketing of tobacco, why

not food? That is a very good question. There should be this

debate and some restrictions. This might be where we disagree. The

sugar campaign should run similarly to the one we had recently on salt

so that the companies that make all this high sugar content food and

drink are required to label and find alternatives. That is one side of

the debate. There is a correlation we cannot ignore between austerity

driven poverty and obesity. That has already been shown in certain

sectors. That is it from the papers for this hour. He will be back just

after 11. Steve files on BBC News. Our world affairs editor offers his

opinion on the crisis in Iraq. It is time to re`enter

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