An emotive topic but from what I gather from varying friends and colleagues - opinion is split.
I would have voted NO.... but probably a few weeks ago I would have voted yes.
Which way would you have voted? (Syrian conflict)
A subject people are wary of putting their name to and that's the problem with public votes on wars especially dodgy ones, and that is why we have politicians.
This is an odd an unusual one if only because we will hardly be adding that much in terms of forces. Just 8 planes. I also think Cameron is a gung ho ego like so many poor leaders but I went the other way to you, from no a week or 2 back to yes. It may not have an effect on them but at least strengthens our ties with France which could be important in years to come.
It may also unearth more scumbags in our own country we can lock away for a while as I believe we're in a much wider ideological war now against islamists and west haters who live with us.
You can be sure we don't know half the reasons for embarking on these strikes.
Yesterday morning I saw 8 'aircraft' at once flying very high across Yorkshire all in the same direction ( West to East) So high you could only see the vapour trails.
They did not show on flightradar24.com. I said then that the vote is a foregone conclusion. And later in the news they said that military jets had been landing all day in Malta.
A few weeks ago yes - I was no to all the previous ones - but on the day I would have chosen to abstain. We are not being given the full information so an informed opinion is impossible. I just don't trust what we are told and I think it's linked to an American desire for world domination. It will create animosity, air strikes won't work on their own - maybe that is the idea of them - just a gesture and there is no long-term plan.
I thought Hilary Benn was impressive yesterday. I like him but he is probably wrong in some of the content. Weird to have the late Tony Benn being represented alongside him in the shape of Jeremy Corbyn, especially as the Shadow Foreign Secretary is becoming his father in tone, gesture, poetry and depth the older he gets.
I vote that they send in some sort of James Bond figures and shoot every baddie right in the face. Thereby not killing any innocent people with bombs.
Easy. (Why doesn't the real world work like films?)
Quote: Stephen Goodlad @ 3rd December 2015, 8:56 AM GMTYesterday morning I saw 8 'aircraft' at once flying very high across Yorkshire all in the same direction ( West to East) So high you could only see the vapour trails.
They did not show on flightradar24.com. I said then that the vote is a foregone conclusion. And later in the news they said that military jets had been landing all day in Malta.
Yikes.
Quote: A Horseradish @ 3rd December 2015, 8:57 AM GMTI thought Hilary Benn was impressive yesterday.
Really, I thought his speech was empty rhetoric and obfuscation which evaded the real issues.
The best speeches were from rebel Tory defence experts such as John Baron and Andrew Tyrie who forensically nailed the weakness of the government's arguments.
But Corbyn made the usual erroneous claim that the country was against it just because a few thousand turned out with placards proclaiming to be against it.
We've seen this before. Either they inflate the protester's numbers or say the country does not want it, whatever it maybe.
A few thousand is hardly a scratch on a population of 60 million plus.
Nobody can deny that we need to do something and that we also need to show support to our allies. I just wish there wasn't such a disconnect from the fact that real innocent people will get in the firing line both literally and metaphorically. It just looks like Cameron and the rest are playing a casual game of Call of Duty with their decisions.
I think Corbyn's voice needs to be there, a voice of conscience, even if he's not necessarily saying the right things all the time. It makes people think about other choices.
Quote: Lee @ 3rd December 2015, 12:22 PM GMTI just wish there wasn't such a disconnect from the fact that real innocent people will get in the firing line.
Agread Lee.
Daesh (IS) must be jumping for glee. Bombing will kill civilians and the their relatives and sympathisers will be incentivised to join IS or similar groups. Would you not be enraged if your kids were bombed in the name of Political vanity ? This is the argument put forward by Syrians, and it's their country we're bombing. Sure take out strategic supply lines, but after 5 years how many are left to bomb ?
I would vote for troops to secure the Turkish boarder, as that would slow them down big time. The bombs are a PR thing, surely ? Cameron wants to look decisive, he needs a Falklands to save his position. Not sure I'd want my relatives to die for that cause.
Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 3rd December 2015, 12:07 PM GMTBut Corbyn made the usual erroneous claim that the country was against it just because a few thousand turned out with placards proclaiming to be against it.
We've seen this before. Either they inflate the protester's numbers or say the country does not want it, whatever it maybe.
A few thousand is hardly a scratch on a population of 60 million plus.
Public support is down from 59% immediately post the attacks Paris, to 48% as of yesterday, and will doubtless decline further as the futile exercise drags on. Cameron was cynically striking while the iron was hot to enable him to support US intervention in Syria, which he has been wanting to do since before ISIL emerged as a threat (which it did in part because of US intervention).
Who are these people who dream up these percentages? Don't know about Cameron striking while the iron is hot - he has been banging on about it for some time.
YES
Quote: Tursiops @ 3rd December 2015, 10:41 AM GMTReally, I thought his speech was empty rhetoric and obfuscation which evaded the real issues.
The best speeches were from rebel Tory defence experts such as John Baron and Andrew Tyrie who forensically nailed the weakness of the government's arguments.
I was talking about his style rather than what he said. Bli-ar was the first bloke in history who wore doctor martens inside pixie boots. Brown really did need a deodorant other than Brut after broodily chucking his desk through windows as if he was tossing the caber. And Cameron would take a razor blade even to the removal of his own adenoids. HB isn't any of them which is a big plus. PLUS the point about internationalism and fascists showed a sure grasp of history though these days it can be a grey area. John Wayne's real name was Marion. Big Daddy was Shirley. It makes a hell of a lot of sense when you think about it with real intellectual depth.
Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 3rd December 2015, 12:07 PM GMTBut Corbyn made the usual erroneous claim that the country was against it just because a few thousand turned out with placards proclaiming to be against it.
We've seen this before. Either they inflate the protester's numbers or say the country does not want it, whatever it maybe.
A few thousand is hardly a scratch on a population of 60 million plus.
This is true.
But Daewooish's numbers compared with the global population are the same as a bloke and dog in comparison to the clientele in 20 branches of Wetherspoons. Stick a jukebox in just one and they will be pepsi musicola'd.
I have no words to describe how horrified and disgusted I was last night. And what sort of sick arseholes would make that kind of decision then cheer and applaud at the result, following which they marched out of the House chatting and laughing away as if they'd just been told their shares has just gone up by ten million times?
As I crossed from the car to go into Morrison's this morning, I looked up at the sky and imagined how it would be to be in such a country where planes would suddenly appear and bomb me and everybody else in sight.
And it's all such a bloody waste of time.