THE fall-out from the decision to go to war with Iraq continues to blind us with its trivialities.

The latest one is that Tony Blair "over-ruled" or "ignored" security advice that attacking Iraq and collapsing Saddam Hussein would make it easier for terrorists like al-Qaida to get their hands on weapons of mass destruction.

The use of emotive words like "over-ruled" and "ignored" makes this sound like a serious allegation, but let us look at this in a mature fashion.

Firstly, it is a blindingly obvious statement. There are terrorists and rogue states around the world who have got their hands on dreadful weapons because of the collapse of the USSR and Communism. But no one is seriously arguing that we should reinstate the Communists and re-form the USSR in order to reduce terrorism.

Mr Blair did not "over-rule" or "ignore" this advice as the BBC school of reporting would have us believe.

He took it on board and mulled it over with all the other conflicting opinions that were being thrown at him. Accepting it would mean that he could only watch as Saddam Hussein created weapons which, as Dr David Kelly himself said, would be a real and lethal threat to this country in four or five years time.

Into the equation went Saddam's 12 years of frustrating international weapons inspectors. Then there was the paralysis of the United Nations plus the apparent determination of the United States to go it alone come what may.

He weighed up all the risks - of which only one was that terrorists would get their hands on Saddam's weapons - and then he made a decision as to what he thought was best in Britain's interests.

And, without wishing to sound like Tony's toadies, it was the biggest decision a prime minister can make - sending his soldiers to war - and probably the loneliest.

We elected him as leader and he led us into war. If we do not like that, we can criticise it, demonstrate against it and vote him out of office.

There are plenty of valid criticisms that can be aimed at Mr Blair - the September dossier that made the case for war was over-simplified, and the post-war planning, as yesterday's events yet again showed, has been so bad that we must wonder whether the invasion was worthwhile.

But we cannot condemn Mr Blair for doing his job, for doing what we elected him to do: to make tough decisions.

Terrorism is a threat to this country, but so is the British public's growing disillusionment with politics. If the media continues to sex-up trivialities - in the case of the BBC to hide its own failings - it will be guilty of helping to undermine democracy.