Britain over Syria: your thoughts?

Trollheart · 12-02-2015, 07:31 PM

Personally, in some ways, I get this. It's a one-of-the-boys thing: French are bombing Syria, US are bombing Syria, so the UK are too. And they don't wnat to be seen to be either left out or not pulling their weight. But there's no direct threat to UK from Syria or IS at the moment, so I don't get it when Cameron says Britain will be safer thanks to this vote. How? I mean, if IS could be destroyed in a few bombing raids, sure, I would understand going in there and eradicating them so that they're no longer a threat to world peace. But they're not only in Syria. They're also in Iraq and other places, and at least two countries in Europe. I'm reasonably certain there are cells in Britain just waiting for the word.

Will this not make Britain by default less safe? Are they not now, if they were not already, more open to a Paris-style attack? And what exactly is Cameron defending in Syria anyway? Is this not another Iraq, for which the Labour Govt was so castigated by the Opposition at the time, who were ... these guys?

Reports say the vote passed "overwhelmingly". Well, a difference of 150 votes or so does not seem overwhelming to me. I mean, it was 397 for and 223 against. So that means, assuming there were no abstentions, or none worth considering if there were, that out of approx 620 MPs 400 voted for, but 220 or so voted against. It's 50% more for the yes, sure, but I still don't consider that as an overwhelming success for Cameron.

Am I missing something? I'd particularly be interested in hearing from monkey and Goofle and other Britons, as you guys are gonig to be in the crosshairs now, so to speak. How do you feel about this decision? How does anyone else feel? Do you think only IS targets will be hit, or will we soon be reading apologies from the RAF for hitting say a hospital or a school? Can anything good come out of this?

Comments welcome; and keep in mind that my main question here is the notion that it will make Britain safer, and the reasons behind the decision...

12-02-2015, 07:31 PM	#1 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	Britain over Syria: your thoughts? Personally, in some ways, I get this. It's a one-of-the-boys thing: French are bombing Syria, US are bombing Syria, so the UK are too. And they don't wnat to be seen to be either left out or not pulling their weight. But there's no direct threat to UK from Syria or IS at the moment, so I don't get it when Cameron says Britain will be safer thanks to this vote. How? I mean, if IS could be destroyed in a few bombing raids, sure, I would understand going in there and eradicating them so that they're no longer a threat to world peace. But they're not only in Syria. They're also in Iraq and other places, and at least two countries in Europe. I'm reasonably certain there are cells in Britain just waiting for the word. Will this not make Britain by default less safe? Are they not now, if they were not already, more open to a Paris-style attack? And what exactly is Cameron defending in Syria anyway? Is this not another Iraq, for which the Labour Govt was so castigated by the Opposition at the time, who were ... these guys? Reports say the vote passed "overwhelmingly". Well, a difference of 150 votes or so does not seem overwhelming to me. I mean, it was 397 for and 223 against. So that means, assuming there were no abstentions, or none worth considering if there were, that out of approx 620 MPs 400 voted for, but 220 or so voted against. It's 50% more for the yes, sure, but I still don't consider that as an overwhelming success for Cameron. Am I missing something? I'd particularly be interested in hearing from monkey and Goofle and other Britons, as you guys are gonig to be in the crosshairs now, so to speak. How do you feel about this decision? How does anyone else feel? Do you think only IS targets will be hit, or will we soon be reading apologies from the RAF for hitting say a hospital or a school? Can anything good come out of this? Comments welcome; and keep in mind that my main question here is the notion that it will make Britain safer, and the reasons behind the decision... __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018