aibu to wonder why we are doing nothing about syria

[ThatVikRinA22]

why are we doing nothing?
labour clearly sitting on the fence because of iraq as are the rest of the jittery gvt....

ive heard all the "its not our busniness" arguments - the same was said in WW2 until it was too late.

i cannot comprehend why we would advocate doing nothing - rwanda all over again.
m sickened tbh that people feel so able to wash their hands when people - children - are being napalmed and gassed.

what about what is morally right? forget politics - are we really just going to do nothing??
because its not us?

im not advocating another iraq war - but surely we cannot stand on the sidelines and watch this without doing anything?

"we" are doing nothing because as a democracy we have voted not to, owing to the facts being insufficiently clear to know who did it, where to bomb, and the past lessons that it has never helped - the opposite in fact.

The list of sensible Western countries NOT lining up to bomb Syria far outnumbers the few who are.

The thing that bothers me is the thread of arrogance that runs through this discussion - as if the UK is the moral compass of the world and we decide when and where to intervene in other countries.

We have been interfering in the politics of the Arab nations for generations and it has never, ever done anything except make things worse.

The idea that if we hit Assad with a little air strike it will make matters better is just bizarre to me.

We should stop posturing and put more effort into working with the UN to persuade Russia and China to sort Assad out.
I can't believe that given our history of fucking up and making ordinary Arabs hate us over and over again we still think we are the right people to intervene.

didn't the Egyptian fella who had been democratically elected lose control of his army and people though too glomping?

they got rid of him and the situation got worse!

I personally don't think we should act at all so long as words as 'likely' 'whould have' 'could have' 'uncertain' etc are being used by the UN and our leaders who are pushing for action.

I am very weary

The problem with the Egyptian fella was that he got in by a relative small margin and then acted as if he had a total mandate.
He had no intention of representing the nation rather than just the people who voted for him. He pushed through numerous powers that had fuck all to do with his actual mandate.

I read on the BBC that if the US bombs Syria, Iran may instruct Hezbollah who are based in Lebanon to attack Israel.

I bet if it said 'if the UK bombs Syria then Iran may instruct Hezbollah who are based in the Isle of Wight to attack the UK' then people here would be far less trigger happy.

It's so easy to say we should send in the bombs when there are no obvious repercussions for our immediate safety. But there are Israelis now currently queuing up at centres trying to get gas masks for themselves and their children. Imagine if you were now queuing up for a gas mask for your baby, hoping that some country far away decided not to bomb a neighbouring country to you because it would be your babies being put in the way of the retaliation.

And yes, I am weary too.
Those poor people caught in the middle of a world wide pissing contest.

Ubud, that is exactly how I feel but you wrote it so much better.
I wish UK government and people become more selfish. This thread is so close to my heart. My friend lost her boy in Afgamistan- sorry but for what? He became soldier to honour, serve and protect his own country UK not someone else. Uk should be more selfish not always good samaritan!! How much aid do you send to other countries??? India, Nigeria etc and at this very moment thousands of people in England eather don't have shelter , food, clothes or place in the hospital. I am sooo happy Cameron got sense- it doesn't matter was it through parlament vote or any other way. Keep the young soldiers away and streets of England safe. How many suicade bombers are waiting for oportunity to harm western people ? It was saying in the news more then 8000.Even if it is false info we know that that they play dirty game. I will never forget young soul being slothered on the street on London for being soldier.

Hats off to George Galloway who explains very well why the vote went the right way.

Cameron didn't - some of his MPs and the Lanour MP's blocked Cameron's vote

I knew that I just said Cameron because he is the PM and represent UK.If it was him he would go and helped USA

Silly phone- represents

Exactly noblegiraffe. I'm in Israel right now and people here are very worried. Although it should be said that all citizens have been entitled to gas masks since the first gulf war - but of course everyone forgets to check they have until something like this happens!

Luckily Israeli (and Turkish) citizens have strong armies protecting them and assad is well aware of the implications of attacking them. There will be no soul searching about regime change if he does.

StElmo I hate that politicians make decisions about these things......they feel qualified to make these decisions on our behalf.

Well of course they do . We live in a democracy, thank God. We get to use our vote to elect the people into parliament that best reflect our own views. They represent, roughly, the feelings of the people who live in our country. For five years anyway, then the electorate get to chose again who represents them.

I don't understand the issue you have with the fact that of course it is the politicians who will decide the courses of action.

What Pagwatch says.

It is also very easy to talk of "doing something".

What? What exactly should be done? By who? How? When? Where? How will it be paid for? Who is paying? Why are they?

It is also easy to talk about going to war, what about if the war you start over there comes home to you?

I have sons. I don't want a world war. I hope Oz keeps out.

I care about those babies, really I do. It is awful. But sending mine to die won't help them.

No idea what the answer is but I am pretty sure it doesn't involve 'collateral damage' which is what will happen.

Fantastic piece here on why there is nothing that can be done (apelrt from record for history, and send aid)
www.theonion.com/articles/so-whats-it-going-to-be,33662/

Its fecking depressing but there genuinely is nothing that can be done, maybe if an intervention had come far earlier, but now it just needs to run its course.

www.theonion.com/articles/so-whats-it-going-to-be,33662/

www.theonion.com/articles/so-whats-it-going-to-be,33662/
Ffs

Thanks for the link IAGTBF - The Onion never fails to deliver!

I for one really hope we don't 'go in.' Help all we can from the sidelines by all means, send aid/medical help, help with political mediation etc, but please God no more air strikes or ground troops. We cannot afford either financially or on any other level to get ourselves too embroiled in this sorry mess. Let someone else do it for a change.

Completely agree with Pagwatch.

This is the problem with civil war isn' it? It can be hard to tell where the bad guy stops and the good guy starts. That's why there is little to be gained in going in. Even if we managed to depose Assad we'd be kidding ourselves if that made everything rosy. He isn't doing this alone.

Ubud. I really agree with everything you say. Why more people don't think in the same way. They are animals.... Let them deal with it. They hate west. Point blank. Any given oportunity they will kill western soldiers or rape western women/ journalists.
Honestly does Britain need another involvement? No!!!!!!