Syria vote

Three cheers!!!!!

Victory for democracy.

I agree.

It usually feels like democracy begins and ends at the General Election ballot boxes, so it's good to see it in action beyond that. (Even if some of the voting was probably still just 'politicking'!

Hope this gives our PM some food for thought! He doesn't like not getting his own way (even his mother admits this ----from the age of 5! )

Not too great for the chemically killed/maimed children of Syria, or the incendiary bombed teenagers from Aleppo though.

“victims with breathing difficulties, people twitching with spasms, coughing, rapid heartbeats, foaming at the mouth, unconsciousness and death”.

“We saw rows of dead lined up in burial shrouds, the white linen unstained by a single drop of blood,” Mr Kerry said. “Instead of being tucked safely in their beds at home, we saw rows of children lying side by side, sprawled on a hospital floor, all of them dead from Assad’s gas and surrounded by parents and grandparents who had suffered the same fate. This is the indiscriminate, inconceivable horror of chemical weapons.”

But, of course, we only intervene when there is something in it for us.

...or when there is a clear aim that can be achieved. This was what was completely lacking.

Everyone deplores what happened - but the reaction has to be purposeful and the long term aims clear. And it has to be legitimate under international law.

or we just have more purposeless deaths and suffering.

We need humanitarian aid in there.

Previous military interventions have caused further chaos. It's estimated that 1m. people have died in Iraq and Libya has been described as a "no go" area.

Bombing by the west will further entrench the various anti and pro Assad factions and will ratchet up the violence rather than eliminate it.

Personally, I don't agree with bombing even if the UN does approve it.

I am with you there Eloethan, it does just seem counter-productive, and what good did we really do in Iraq? We do just need to stand back and take a breath, and look to find an alternative to killing yet more people. I think the vote was all to do with 'politics', but thank goodness it has given us space.

Printmiss - I feel a bit more positive about the vote than that. I think a lot of MPs really listened to the mood of the country and by voting against, those Tory and Lib Dem MPs have risked any futures they might have had.

I think it's a shame that something like this is being used for political point scoring.

And I think we, as a country, should be ashamed of ourselves. At least Cameron and Hague could see the need here.

Assad, and every other nasty little dictator the world over, will be sleeping easier in their beds. And the world will be a less safe place for future generations.

I am glad that the vote went against the UK joining the US military intervention. As Mishap has mentioned we need humanitarian aid in Syria. I for one would be prepared to donate money or food or medical care through Oxfam or the Red Cross.

J08 the need for what - more dead Syrians?

I have watched and listened to all the arguments during the past two years relating to Syria, and have agonized over what I think should be done.

What I am sure of is, that what should happen to those who commit such dreadful deads, is the certainty that the world will stand in judgement and that they will stand trial for war crimes as surely as all the injuries and deaths that they have inflicted on so many people.

Other than that I am aware of the complexity of the situation, regarding the opponents in this civil war, and am sure that any involvement by the west will not resolve the issue. Clinical strategy of selectively taking out various targets may and I emphasize may encourage the Syrian regime to stop using chemical weapons, but I am absolutely sure that it will not stop the war, and so we will continue to wring our hands over the deaths of so many innocents, however thay are killed.

Assad may be willing to come to the table but I am as sure as anything that other members of his family will not and they appear to be calling the shots.

I continue to worry and watch.