How the Americans and Europeans accepted the plaudits for removing the dictator Gaddafi and his family. Bombing Libya into democracy they heaped accolades upon themselves.
What was the result?
The rise of terrorist groups there and in neighbouring countries, now all generously equipped with modern small arms.
What is the latest?
America and the UK and several other countries evacuating their nationals for fear over their safety as a continuing civil war between rival factions escalates.
In one of those comments that has made the Foreign Office renown for understatement, British ambassador to Libya Michael Aron has described the situation as "very sad".
Elsewhere, the chickens are also coming home to roost for the fruits of British "diplomacy".
The Church of England has demanded that the British government offers sanctuary to thousands of Christians fleeing jihadists in northern Iraq, warning that ignoring their plight would constitute a "betrayal of Britain's moral and historical obligations".
A number of bishops have revealed their frustration over David Cameron's intransigence on the issue, arguing the UK has a responsibility to grant immediate asylum to Iraqi Christian communitiesrecently forced to flee the northern city of Mosul after militants from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isis) threatened them with execution, a religious tax or forced conversion.
On Monday, France responded to the so-called religious cleansing by publicly granting asylum to Christians driven from Mosul. The Anglican Church argues the UK has an even greater responsibility to intervene, citing its central role in the 2003 allied invasion, which experts say triggered the destabilisation and sectarian violence that shaped the context for Isis to seize control of much of northern Iraq. The bishop of Manchester, the Right Rev David Walker, told the Observer:
"We would be failing to fulfil our obligations were we not to offer sanctuary... Given the vast amounts of money that we spent on the war in Iraq, the tiny cost of bringing some people fleeing for their lives to this country and allowing them to settle – and who, in due course, would be an asset to our society – would seem to be minuscule."
Before the allied invasion, there were thought to be around a million Christians in Iraq. About three-quarters left amid sectarian violence and attacks by jihadists. A decade ago an estimated 60,000 Christians lived in Mosul, a number that had fallen to about 35,000 when Isis swept into the city in June. The final members of its Christian community – one of the world's most ancient – fled last month.
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