Every time they get the chance, MPs rush to promote further intervention and to justify past ones
Lindsey German
George Osborne spoke from the back benches to declare “it is impossible to intervene anywhere”
The usual stench of hypocrisy is oozing from the Palace of Westminster. The debate on Aleppo yesterday saw right wing Labour MPs line up alongside the Tories to claim that the terrible situation in Aleppo is because Cameron lost the vote to intervene there in 2013. But that intervention would have led to an even worse war than we see now.
The ongoing catastrophes in Iraq since 2003 and Libya since 2011 are solid proof that western bombing and intervention only makes things worse. Those MPs, like George Osborne, who say we made a mistake not intervening in Syria are in denial about Britain’s role. He claimed after the vote last year for Britain to bomb ISIS in Syria that Britain had ‘got its mojo back’, reflecting the real view of what these interventions are about.
In fact, British intervention and support for sections of the opposition in Syria has been ongoing. It is foolish in the extreme to believe that really the west and its Middle East allies are not doing anything to help the opposition. That simply flies in the face of the facts including money, arms, special forces. This is true of Britain, the US, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and a number of other countries.
We should also remember that some of the seeds of war Syria, especially the role of ISIS, started with the war in Iraq. ISIS was formed in occupied Iraq. Every single British intervention in the ‘War on Terror’ has been a failure and has only resulted in more war and terrorism. These interventions have promoted exactly what they say they oppose.
Yet every time they get the chance, MPs rush to promote further intervention and to justify past ones. The debate yesterday was another such spectacle, with Osborne justifying past wars.
We were right to oppose intervention then, and we are now. The people of Aleppo are suffering from a war which can have no winners. It has destroyed much of the country.
We should be calling for an end to the war, with a ceasefire and attempt at a political solution, an end to all outside intervention on whatever side, and for humanitarian aid to those who need it. We should also allow Syrian refugees into Britain, something these hypocritical MPs have no intention of doing.