Foreign policy is virtually absent from the election campaign. But if David Cameron had had his way, we could have been embroiled by now – more than we already are – in yet another Middle East war. As it is, his Syria policy has still backfired, contributing to the rise of jihadism in our own back yard.
Cameron should not be let off the hook for supporting the armed opposition in Syria and being ready to start bombing Syrian government forces in 2013 after the Syrians had apparently used chemical weapons. The planes were ready to take off from Cyprus. It was only parliament, in a historic and too-soon-forgotten vote, that stopped this recklessness in its tracks. True, Syria subsequently disarmed itself of chemical weapons, but this was after the climbdown on bombing had shown western public opinion had no appetite for another war of choice. So it was no thanks to Cameron’s warmongering; it was, rather, a result of Russian pressure.
True also, Britain has gone on to join bombing operations against Isis. But it is one thing to bomb a rabble collection of fighters, another to bomb a regular army with an anti-aircraft capability. And what was Cameron thinking – that decimating the Syrian army would make life harder for the Islamists, who are palpably the bigger and more atrocious threat? » | Peter Ford | Tuesday, April 07, 2015
