Bomb Syria? Not in my name

I wrote to my MP about the situation in Syria. You can do the same if you like via Write to Them.

Dear Paul Blomfield MP

I am against British military intervention in Syria. I am writing to ask that when Parliament is recalled tomorrow you vote against any action except specific measures designed to de-escalate the conflict. Those measures must be taken by the UN not Britain.

Gassing civilians is wrong, obviously, but so is killing them any other way. Mass civilian slaughter has been occurring in Syria for the last two years yet only now does the Government seek to make a “moral case” for intervention. Is it British foreign policy, then, that belligerents can murder as many people as they like using conventional weapons, but if they use chemical, biological or radiological agents we’ll attack them (and then only if the world media notices)? Why? A cynic might suggest the coalition’s motive comes not from a moral foundation but because the cameras are now rolling. When they are not, Britain sells arms to human rights violators around the world, and has done so under successive governments.

Syria’s civil war, like all war, is a humanitarian disaster, but I think action on humanitarian grounds can only be justified if it seeks to de-escalate the conflict, not inflame it. The UN could enforce a no-fly zone and an arms embargo on all sides. It could drop food, medicine, shelters and gas masks. It could also send in peacekeepers to protect civilians if necessary. The UN is the correct international body to take these actions – not the UK. We are not the world’s police.

My generation already has on its conscience two “interventions” that resulted in mass civilian casualties: in Afghanistan and Iraq. We cannot tolerate any more. Tomorrow, please vote against British military intervention in Syria.

Thank you.

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