BY ANGELA DANIELS
It has come to light that the much debated Air Strikes by Britain against ISIS in Syria has gone into neutral mode. Since the zealous RAF attacks earlier this month only hours after the Prime Minister, David Cameron secured a 174 majority vote to go ahead and join the Alliance to deal a blow on the insurgents. Britain proudly participated in the military campaign that enabled her count in a show of solidarity for France whose capital city, Paris had been struck by ISIS terrorists, killing 129 people. The ten hour fiery, Parliamentary debate extracted 67 Labour votes in favour of the motion, risking a potentially damaging rift within Labour.
It now feels like the display of strength with the Brimstone missiles was only tokenising and many people in Britain who appeared not to be keen on the military action and those who were strongly in favour are enduring a waiting period of anti-climax, and may soon want to know what is going on. The recent statement on BBC radio (Wales) by Ms Madeline Moon, who sits on the Commons Defence Committee was rather surprising –not enough pilots, engineers or navigators to sustain a large campaign. David Cameron must be aware of that.
Britain is already busy in Iraq and has been for two years, with some success. And while Parliament debated whether the country should engage in Air Strikes in Syria against ISIS, the Libyan zone was proving to be in chaos, with the two Libyan Parliaments still in the hedge of pledging to sign a peace accord. A UN Security Council report expressed concern on the rising threat of ISIS who were receiving support from their bases in Iraq and Syria, were now looking at Libya as an opportunity to expand their so-called caliphate and welcome recruits who cannot go all the way to the Middle East. Britain’s duty to participate in preventing an ISIS foothold here is unarguable. So, David Cameron’s hands have been inescapably full.
Despite Ms Madeline Moon’s plain talk about the lack of pilots and so on, the Ministry of Defence would unlikely admit to such a claim. It could be deemed to be a political flip and also lacking in a sense of national security. Assuming Ms Moon knew what she was talking about, which she must have done, Mr Cameron who has oversight of those in charge of essential logistics must surely have been fully informed beforehand that the strikes in Syria could be a one- off, for a long time or heads may have rolled. An almost two-week gap is a long time.
The complication of the formation of 34 Muslim governed countries, which unsurprisingly does not include the Shia Muslim majority states of Iran, Libya and Syria, throws Britain and her allies into a dilemma, but in the end may provide a face-saving opportunity, for Britain, though the Prime Minister should brace himself for the host of tongues that could be wagging at him across the House in due time.
