Oh no, here we go again

Quite remarkable, I wanted to post the letter I have just sent to the Prime Minister on proposals to launch yet another war into Iraq.  I haven't used this blog for over a year and what do I find when I log on: only reference to the last debacle, which incredibly, politics managed to defeat.  One year on, the same questions arise: where is the foresight in politics, where is the long term planning?

Anyway, I said this, for all the good it will do. Perhaps if enough of us query this latest adventure, we might make a change.

The proposal to be put to MPs today is for a new campaign of bombing in Iraq to fight ISIS/ISIL, the terror group which has taken control of vast swathes of Iraq and Syria.  This is a noble ambition which most people would support.

What it is not is a long term strategy for the stability and future of Iraq, a country I probably don't need to remind you has been bombed, attacked and invaded periodically by the UK since 1917.

Now is not the time to jump into quick action which will inevitably result in the deaths of people who are not only innocent but who are suffering under the terror group and whose lives will inevitably get worse if we begin a campaign against them.
Now is the time for politicians to plan a strategy for the next 100 years across this whole region, working with our allies in Turkey, as well as less savoury countries including Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia to enable the people from the Mediterranean to the Gulf to foresee a time when they can live in peace and allow their countries to grow and develop.  I struggle to see how a new campaign of bombing and death will help this.

The simplistic approach of bombing raids in Libya has left that country immeasurably weaker and cannot have been said to have improved the lives of people there, regardless of how vicious the regime of Gaddafi was.  In Libya, as with Iraq, I have no doubt that your actions were well-intentioned but they did not achieve their goal of a free, stable country moving towards democracy.

Please reflect on the history of this benighted region and country and please think twice before going down the disastrous path several of your predecessors have.  There is an alternative, once referred to as 'jaw-jaw', which remains preferable to its rhyming alternative.  That alternative approach will inevitably have to be taken and it would be a principled politician who sought to do so now, rather than after the deaths of hundreds, possibly thousands.

I hope you will seek to avoid the errors of others today.

Regards