We went to war in Iraq on a false premise, led by a man who had already hitched his mast to the warship of George Bush. So many lies, half-truths and media spun stories meant that public confidence has never been the same in international interventionism since Iraq.
So when the chance to act against Bashar Al Assad came in late 2013, Parliament voted against any action, dazed partly by the looming shadow of Iraq.
Fast forward to today and the incoherent and disastrous policies Western nations have taken in Syria, namely of inaction and hand wringing, and we have a civilian population who are bearing the murderous brunt of Assad and his regime. Their hands are not only steeped in blood, they are steeped in the entrails of Syria as a nation which lies like a deceased carcass on the floor. Syria as a nation, no longer lives.
Today, social media postings highlighted the absolute carnage and human rights abuses that are taking place by Assad forces, egged on and supported by another dictator sitting in the Kremlin, who has managed to run rings around the West. These are the painful pictures that show a humanitarian disaster unfolding as we wring our hands and as the opposition in our country has single handedly failed to stand up for military intervention in Syria. So weak is the political opposition that they cannot coherently put together a strategy, but then again, let us not forget who voted to hold the hands of our nation and military at a time when a difference could possibly have been made. It was that same political opposition that cowered in the Commons lobbies and who spoke about the spectre of Iraq when many of those same MPs had supported war in Iraq in 2003.
So as we read these social media statements, ask not what we have done for the people of Syria, but what we have done to the people of Syria through our inaction and moral ambivalence when so many die as we speak.
In the #HumanRightsDay a message for the #UnitedNations from inside the besieged #Aleppo
Stop Assad&Putin bombing#StandWithAleppo#Syria pic.twitter.com/auqpZDIji9— Lina shamy (@Linashamy) December 10, 2016
A mother with her child and a whole family were killed by Assad and Russian warplanes in my district#StandWithAleppo#Aleppo #Syria pic.twitter.com/9EoNp1u6ox
— Lina shamy (@Linashamy) December 8, 2016
https://twitter.com/RevolutionSyria/status/807012858320080896
46 killed & 230+ injured in #Aleppo city yesterday after being targeted by 140+ aerial attacks,1200+ artillery & 3 chlorine barrel bombs.
— The White Helmets (@SyriaCivilDef) December 9, 2016
Seeing what people have been suffering in #Aleppo hurts a lot more than death.#standWithAleppo @SyriaCivilDef pic.twitter.com/yao71ajrBO
— Ismail Alabdullah 🇺🇦 (@ismailSCD) December 9, 2016
Statement by East #Aleppo Doctors. #SyriaHasHeroes #StandWithAleppo #Syria pic.twitter.com/juZZHJNUfD
— Peymaneh Shafi (@Peymaneh_Sh) December 11, 2016
Final goodbyes from eastern #Aleppo.. pic.twitter.com/7NdrcBdXVz
— Pieter Nanninga (@pieternanninga) December 12, 2016