Hi Najib,

Thank you for sharing your feelings and thoughts about this! I can understand your reaction to this.

As the editor who decided to publish this, I would like to explain my reasoning to you, if you are open to hearing it:

Having a background in international law, I agree that the Iraq war should have never happened. According to surveys, the vast majority of my fellow Europeans feels the same way, as do many others.

Then-United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan put it this way: "I have indicated that it is not in accordance with the UN charter. From our point of view and the UN Charter point of view, it was illegal."

So, I did not publish this article to try to excuse the harm that has been done to your region and its people.

Instead, it was to focus on our shared humanity and on finding hope and light in the middle of darkness. During catastrophes, I personally find it helpful to read articles that talk about our shared humanity, for instance people donating blood to help others.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and feelings about this, it puts the article into a bigger context and adds depth to it!