NO one wants to get involved in another country’s civil war, but the fast-moving events in Iraq should concern us all.

Observers have been shocked by the sudden collapse of the Iraqi security forces, especially the US which has spent millions arming them and years training them to be an effective fighting force.

But it takes more than the latest weaponry and six months on the parade ground to rebuild an Army.

And the West’s efforts have been stymied by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s policy of packing the military and the police with Shiite yes men at the expense of battle-hardened Iraqi officers who found themselves out of a job.

As in Afghanistan, the Prime Minister bolstered his security in Baghdad by surrounding himself with loyalists at the expense of the rest of the country. The result has been the creation of an Army with a glass jaw – ready to throw in the towel at the first sign of trouble.

The events of the past week have shown the Iraqi government up for what it is: an administration incapable of uniting or running the country.

Sending more Western troops to shore up Mr al-Maliki’s discredited administration would be a huge act of folly.

But Tony Blair is right when he says that we are involved whether we like it or not.

If we do nothing, and the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) keeps control of a huge chunk of the country, it will not be long before Islamic terrorism is exported to the UK, Europe and the US.

We must deal with the immediate threat by stopping the ISIL advance with air strikes, in the hope that ordinary peaceable Iraqis will wake up to the danger they face.

Iraq needs a government of national unity led by a leader who can bring the whole country together.