Syria conflict; how would you vote.

Lots being discussed about what we should do here. Seems we are offered 3 options.

Bomb Isis,

Keep out of it.

Boots on the ground.

Opinions please.

Re: Syria conflict; how would you vote.

Shouldn't there be four ?
You left out Boozercruiser's nuke

Re: Syria conflict; how would you vote.

If it ends up like Iraq and Afghanistan then stay out of it as that was a complete shambles and a waste of young lives. Why is there not a referendum on whether we should get involved or not? Lets face it, its our young men and women that will be risking their lives.

Re: Syria conflict; how would you vote.

No decisions should be made without knowing what we want as an outcome, simply bombing will just leave a vacuum for the next vicious group to emerge from the rumble as happened in other conflicts.

Do we want to support Assad ? should be be pragmatic and say a despot is better than the alternative ?
Do we want to get rid of Assad ? if so who will replace him in the end ?

Re: Syria conflict; how would you vote.

Nom I listened to Cameron's speech in full yesterday and although he made many good points for getting involved in the bombing of Syria including the legality of such a decision (self defence) I have not changed my stance on a 'no' to bombing.

My reasons for this decision are..
Although we are already involved in action just over the border in Iraq, the mess we see there was partially of our making. We failed the people of that country and have an obligation to help sort it out.

Syria is a different matter, we should learn from our mistakes in Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan, interfering with other regimes even with the best intentions can do more harm that good.
Exactly what has the 'war on terror' achieved following 9/11, nothing that I can see except more bloodshed on a terrible scale.

The situation in Syria needs to be sorted out by the Arab countries themselves, there are too many people involved in the bombing already.
According to an item on Newsnight the other night they are running out of targets to bomb in Syria anyway unless they resort to blanket bombing the area and killing masses of civilians which will have repercussions for all of us long term.

Russia was invited to take part and so has a legitimate reason to be there. They could I am sure with the help of Assad's forces on the ground do an efficient job in suppressing ISIS in that area.

The reason Cameron is offering the services of our bombers at all is I think just 'gesture politics' , Cameron feels we need to be seen to be doing something in case we look weak and lose face with other countries.

What we can do is to help behind the scenes in those areas in which we have expertise, intelligence gathering etc. We should also have an input via the UN and meetings with other leaders into what happens with Syria long term. If and when Assad goes we do not need another vacuum to be filled with terrorists as happened in Iraq and Libya and to some extent Afghanistan .

Re: Syria conflict; how would you vote.

Hi

I could not agree more.

Re: Syria conflict; how would you vote.

Gibbs thank you my fear is we will blunder into Syria in an attempt to 'look big' and will achieve nothing at all.

There are times when holding back can achieve far more then rushing forward and now is one of those times.

Re: Syria conflict; how would you vote.

This is a tricky one. I see a reference: 'leave it to the Arabs countries themselves'. I think everyone would rather this was the outcome. Makes perfect sense to me - leave them sort it out themselves and leave us alone. There is the thorn in the side of this argument - the Achilles heel. Take Turkey as an example. It is now run by a President who has strong Islamic views. Does he support terrorism? Not going to say yes or no outright but the implications of his influence over the people in Turkey is immense. He didn't rise to power overnight - it took many years.

Radical Islamism wasn't caused by our involvement in the affairs of other countries - it was already there - it was the reason we got involved in the first place (supposedly) - what we have done is to make it worse but it nevertheless was there and growing.

The 'bury your head in the sand' approach will not work in this instance. The threat we face will eventually come knocking on our door whether we want to think it won't or not. By 'knocking on our door' I mean blatantly in a military sense. I believe it has been here for years working away insidiously in the background. Like it or not RADICAL Islamism has waged war on us. Sounds barmy - but mark my words it will become apparent to everyone eventually.

Should we send planes and troops in? I don't feel qualified to give an opinion. To my mind if we can weaken ISIS in anyway shape or form then we should. Just thinking bombing will sort this mess out though is a complete misnomer - merely a slap in the face. We have to do far far more.

Re: Syria conflict; how would you vote.

It is a very tricky one. And while I have grave concerns about sending in troops, two of my nephews are in the forces and both done tours of Afghanistan, I fear it may come to that, as bombing alone won't get rid of them.
Ideally, it should be dealt with by the Arab countries but I don't think that is going to happen.

Re: Syria conflict; how would you vote.

Leave it to the Arabs and we could never be sure of the outcome and probably have to go through this whole ugly situation again and again.
Innocent people need to be protected from these murderous psychopaths right now and permanently.
I don't give a damn if every Arab kills his brother Arab but I do mind very much indeed when they kill us.
I say act now and give them everything we have in the way of organised and disciplined warfare and do not stop until the threat has been eliminated and all the murderers are gone.