Would you vote for bombing ISIS in Syria?

[Wrong-Direction]

Shock horror all MP's are filthy rich arseho*es!

 

[Sheebo]

I really don't know the answer... I wish I did. Absolutely torn... And don't know enough about how selective these bombings would be tbh....

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

No good will come of this.

Nothing learnt it seems from modern history - what is the exit strategy ?

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

No good will come of this.

Nothing learnt it seems from modern history - what is the exit strategy ?

This.

 

[looney]

IMO a large reason for the existence of ISIS in the first place has been the bombing and military intervention in Iraq etc. over the past 10+ years which has fostered the environment for these scumbag jihadi groups to grow. More bombing will not solve the issues and would not make us any safer, quite the opposite.

Daesh spread from Syria into Iraq, its the lefts vaunted "Arab spring"that caused it.

 

[looney]

No good will come of this.

Nothing learnt it seems from modern history - what is the exit strategy ?

There isn't one, either way.

 

[Surrey_Albion]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...s-says-how-they-can-be-defeated-a6757336.html

 

[Pavilionaire]

It was a truly inspirational speech from Hilary Benn, one of those rare moments when a politician gauges the feeling in the House and speaks with such conviction that he brings the undecided into his way of thinking.

I found myself really wanting to agree with him, but the fact remains Russia want Assad to remain in power and will attack his opponents, many of whom are precisely the foot soldiers we need to be fighting ISIS on the ground in Syria.

Now that we have retaliated for Paris I wonder how ISIS will retaliate back at us?

 

[Ernest]

I bet Tony Benn would have disowned his son for that speech tonight. Time he sat with his mates on the opposite side of the House

 

[BadFish]

For such a huge decision that has wide ranging effects on millions upon millions of people round the world there really doesn't appear to have been thought out properly.

Is bombing really the best the global community can come up with the solve this complex and wide ranging problem?

 

[AlbionPics&SouthCoastTwit]

Polls, polls, polls; I know they're the lens through which you selectively view the world in order to nourish your cognitive bias. I'm referring to real world, observed, natural human behaviour in response to a perceived threat.

True, 100% could vot eyes for an option and be totally wrong.

 

[Igzilla]

except this is nonsence, ignorant of the fact we are already attacking Isil in Iraq.

This displays ignorance of the fact that we are now an active combatant in a very dirty civil war where we will have little to no real impact except to hand Daesh even more recruitment material.

 

[Igzilla]

@MhairiBlack: Very dark night in parliament.Will never forget the noise of some Labour and Tory cheering together at the idea of bombs falling

I'll stick my head in the sand, it's less depressing than wasting my time keeping up with news on psychopaths.

Well, look on the bright side, it'll be a good showcase for our brimstone missiles. May even drum up some orders...

 

[The Antikythera Mechanism]

I bet Tony Benn would have disowned his son for that speech tonight. Time he sat with his mates on the opposite side of the House

The same Tony Benn that used tax avoidance schemes to get around inheritance tax and leave £5 million to his children?

 

[Machiavelli]

No good will come of this.

Nothing learnt it seems from modern history - what is the exit strategy ?

Broadly this, although we're some considerable distance from achieving good -- irrespective of what is done from this point -- merely trying to conceive what constitutes the least-worst option.

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

I see the Labour MP for Hove voted for action, whilst the Tory MP for Chichester Andrew Tyrie voted against.

How did your MP vote?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-34987921

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

I see the Labour MP for Hove voted for action,

Disappointed with this. I voted for him.

 

[scamander]

So we're in then. Quite interesting that the first hit was an oil refinery, bearing in mind we've avoided hitting these for some time it suggests we don't expect to win anytime soon. Normal practice is to leave the infrastructure for all those juicy contracts coming our way.

I genuinely hope pressure is kept up to see the results of the bombings and how it's been effective in turning the tide. I'm also going to assume London and major cities will be safe now as we are taking it to them? Cameron seemed to link the several attempts foiled with the need to bomb, so I'm presuming this will have some sort of cause=effect. I'm confident he wouldn't have linked them just to fudge the issue, like he did the brimstone missiles.

sarcasm.

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

I'm confident he wouldn't have linked them just to fudge the issue, like he did the brimstone missiles.
.

Brimstone missiles. It came up in the debate - some armchair general was saying what a difference these could make and only the RAF had them. There was an interruption - to the effect that the Saudis have them (or course they do) - and then it turns out that the much vaunted contribution from the Arab nations (including Saudi Arabia) has withdrawn from their roles in bombing Syria.

 

[pb21]

Disappointed with this. I voted for him.

So am I and so did I. I emailed him prior to the vote with my concerns and I got a reply yesterday, I suspect a 'stock response'...

Thank you for taking the time to let me know your views about military intervention in Syria.

I promised you when I was elected that I would never duck the big issues and would always be upfront about my views even when - actually, especially when - it concerns a subject as controversial as this and about something so many people feel extremely passionate. That is why I stated my position last week in the House of Commons.

As someone who was an aid worker for 10 years I am very concerned and interested in the plans for what come after military action and whether I support intervention or not will depend on this.

I worked in the refugee camps of Albania in the late 1990’s and then in Kosovo in the immediate aftermath of the NATO invasion. It is a very different situation on a different continent, I realise. But the lesson I learned was that a very tightly coordinated, well resourced aid and reconstruction effort that is informed of military action and can therefore prepare to act without delay can avoid a vacuum forming. In the case of Kosovo and other places the space for lawlessness and radicalism to grow, take root, and spread, did not exist.

Before I vote to allow use of aerial force against ISIS in Syria, which is what the government is proposing, I am looking to be satisfied of the following three points:

1 that the British government will take an active role in the humanitarian effort that follows and does not simply outsource all management and oversight to UN agencies and NGO’s (hugely important though those agencies are). I want our government’s
officials to be on the ground to ensure the NGO’s we fund are working together and that UN agencies are up to the job of coordinating, directing, and communicating what is happening on the ground and what progress is being made towards relief, stabilisation, and ultimately reconstruction.

2 that enough money is committed to get a mammoth humanitarian operation off the ground. This needs to be significant enough to make an immediate difference and demonstrate that positive change is possible and that conditions are rapidly capable of being made safe enough to sustain civilian life and lead to the ultimate return of refugees. The prime minister today committed £1bn which is very significant, other counties need to follow suit, and together ensure it is funded into the long term.

3 that comprehensive and detailed planning happens before, not during or after, military action occurs.

I said last week in the Commons that if these conditions are met I will support intervention.

Syria as it stands today is such a challenging and complex issue to contemplate and understand. It is also, I believe, a very different situation to both Iraq in 2003 and the Syria voted on in the last parliament.

As you may know, several groups, each with territory, are at war with each other. A coalition including France and America are already bombing ISIS. Russia is acting loosely with Assad to attack both Syrian opposition fighters and ISIS. And the result is chaos, mass exodus of civilians, and an international community that has lacked a unified way forward.

The only thing I am certain of amidst such horror is that non intervention is not a passive act. It allows the status quo, which is war, to continue along with loss of life on a grotesque scale, a refugee crisis that Europe is coping poorly with, and an extremist organisation with territory which it uses to train militants and relentlessly work for expansion and the planning of further atrocities in or close to our shores.

The difficulty in a situation this complex is that there is evidence to support many different views. The past policies and military interventions of global powers like Britain have been a factor in some of today’s instability. Inaction has allowed slaughter and genocide to occurs unchallenged. Successful military campaigns with too little thought for what comes next has left populations abandoned, and poorly planned military campaigns have only made matters worse. Tragically we have seen it all.

Suez, Iraq, Libya, Kosovo, Rwanda, The Falklands, Sierra Leone and others teach us different lessons, many of them conflicting.

Yet amidst this talk on a global scale a simple fact remains - each human should have the innate understanding that to plan and execute something along the lines of what happened in Paris is simply wrong and those who do it, whatever their political or religious justification, should be brought to justice and the source of such violence needs to be addressed.

That is why the UN Security Council voted unanimously for an obligation to act, something that has had a big impact on my thinking in recent days.

There is no simple way through this. There are no certainties. I approach this vote with trepidation and fully aware of its seriousness. But as your MP I no longer have the luxury of time to simply observe this unfolding catastrophe, I have to decide how I will use my vote.

There is simply no easy way out of this if our aim is to protect innocent civilians and halt the spread of extremism. I truly wish there were.

I realise that my views differ from that of my leader, Jeremy Corbyn but I hope you will see from this reply and from your knowledge of me that this is a decision I have reached on my own, that it is a principled one, based on lived experience as well as learning.

In the time remaining before the vote I want to listen, learn, and exchange thoughts with as many people as possible so please keep in contact with me on Facebook, by email, or in person when I’m out and about. I will be following up and seeking further information and reassurances from ministers and the prime minister and I will include my learning from your comments and of course keep you updated.

All the best, Peter