In October 2018, John McTernan was asked if he still defends the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He responded in the affirmative: "Any war against a fascist dictator is a good war." He went on to compare the war in Iraq to the Falklands War, the Second World War and the Spanish Civil War. "As my Kurdish friends say 'We never ask why did you invade, we ask why did you take so long?'," said McTernan. He went on to argue that Brexit was a result of a lack of a humanitarian intervention in the Syrian Civil War because it would have prevented the refugee crisis.