of more analysis on this let's now bring in nicholas chairs davis also of blood on our hands the american invasion and destruction in iraq nicholas thank you very much indeed for joining us well as we just heard the iraqi government says it needs one hundred billion dollars to rebuild and the u.s. is pledging hundred fifty million how much of a difference will someone that make you think. yes well that. you know that suggests the the us is not responsible for all this destruction but you know we all know the reality is that it was the united states and the u.k. who invaded and destroyed iraq and the history of u.s. funding for reconstruction is really utterly shameful the u.s. congress in two thousand and three appropriated eighteen billion dollars five years later u.s. general accounting office concluded that only twenty four percent of u.s. reconstruction funds for iraq had ever been dispersed instead what reconstruction did take place in iraq was funded by what was called the development fund for iraq that was funded under a u.n. security council resolution and what that did was to tak

been good at keeping their promises to the kurds a messy situation has gotten even met messier nicholas davies author of blood on our hands the american invasion and destruction of iraq certainly interesting to hear your thoughts. all right with just weeks to go until the winter olympics in south korea more russian athletes are expecting their dreams of competing to be dashed the international olympic committee has sent a list of eligible participants to russia and it excludes many athletes who have never failed adopting test. tensions in the sports world are hitting another high as the i.o.c. has confirmed that the number of russian athletes that are eligible to compete in the upcoming winter olympics is to be reduced now unexpectedly and without explanation now the full list of who is eligible has not yet been released but the russian olympic committee has disclosed a number of names that are thought to be who will be disqualified and that decision is ruffling feathers not only in russia but abroad as well a french sports outlet has published a article online condemning the disqualification

for more on the turkish role in syria we can now bring in nicholas davies author of blood on our hands the american invasion and destruction of iraq thanks for being with us here on our to international. so president controversial figure in the self but he plans to advance his syrian offensive to mung beach how much resistance is he going to encounter from kurdish forces there and how far could this escalate. well this could escalate into a whole new phase of the war. these are experienced well trained and well equipped by the u.s. forces the y.p. ji. and. yeah this this could get very very ugly and it could go on for a very long time. i think we have to hope the seems to be some kind of understanding between russia and syria and turkey it seems that the one has at least some kind of approval from russia and the syrian government to be doing what he's doing. and. while turkey certainly has. a real desire to. you know to not have a kurdish independent enclave on its borders there there is a no secondary objective i think here which is to get the u.s. out of syria. i imagine that the syr

to fight terror groups let's get some insight now because we're joined live on the program by nicholas davies journalist and author of the book blood on our hands the american invasion and destruction of iraq to discuss the issue further hi there nicholas donald trump has accused pakistan of providing a safe haven for terrorists a novice security aid for the country is this it new pressure on islam or bad going to change the situation when it comes to the war on terror. well in the past when the u.s. has pressured pakistan to drive militants out of its so-called safe havens. this is not necessarily worked out as the u.s. would hope two years ago in twenty sixteen pakistan did exactly that and drove out you know hundreds or thousands of foreign fighters from the border areas these were chechens and specs and we girth and so those people relocated to northern afghanistan and joined the taliban there so and in fact helping to strengthen what has been really a resurgence of the taliban in northern afghanistan where the people most people are not even pashtoon that taliban originally had its entir

nicholas witchell, bbc news. newsnight is coming up on bbc two. here's evan davies.ight, virgin west coast says it'll stop selling the daily mail on its trains because it doesn't like the paper's values. the decision went down with some, but angered others. just today's example from a vicious culture war under way here. is it healthy debate or hateful? join me now on bbc two. that's newsnight with evan. here on bbc one it's time for the news where you are. have a good night. hello. i'm olly foster, these are our headlines tonight: a tale of two cities but it's a familiar story as manchester city get a late winner in the league cup. the fa vows to get its house in order, boosting diversity and increasing funding at grassroots. great britain's winter olympians and paralympians great britain's winter olympians and pa ralympians have great britain's winter olympians and paralympians have been given their medal targets and will have to break some records. good evening. it really is nonstop cup football at the moment. we've just it really is nonstop cup football at the mom