WHEN American and British forces withdraw completely from Iraq – a military strategy which seems unthinkable seven years into the campaign – the lasting legacy won’t be peace and democracy.

It will be a deep-rooted suspicion that the infamous weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), the supposed justification for the invasion, never existed.

The Iraq Inquiry, chaired by Sir John Chilcot, has provided no firm answers.

Award-winning British film-maker Paul Greengrass and actor Matt Damon, the driving forces behind The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum, post one scenario in this riveting thriller.

Based on the book Imperial Life In The Emerald City: Inside Iraq’s Green Zone, by journalist Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Green Zone is a breathless two hours of adrenaline-pumping action and political manoeuvring that places as much emphasis on emotionally charged dialogue as the set pieces.

The film opens with a deafening bang on March 19, 2003, in Baghdad, as Saddam Hussein’s trusted general, Al Rawi (Yigal Naor), flees his headquarters in the midst of an Allied blitzkrieg.

Four weeks later, US Army warrant officer Roy Miller (Damon) and his team career through the war-torn capital on the hunt for WMDs. Yet again, they draw a blank and Miller voices his frustrations, suspecting bogus intelligence.