Why intervention in Syria is necessary: a response to the critics

I said in my LabourList column last week that we will look back and regret not intervening in Syria earlier.

Unsurprisingly, a lot of readers did not agree – reflecting a majority view. 69% of Brits oppose using British missiles against military sites inside Syria. But it’s worth responding to the arguments I believe, because the issue is important enough.

Ten years ago I too marched against the war in Iraq. I thought it was based on lies, would further inflame the Middle East and have reprecussions on our national security. The worst of those fears were clearly realised, which is why I don’t take this position lightly. Military intervention should not be the first resort but when other options have failed it has to be considered. We are in that territory with Syria now.

But you say…

“We will only make the situation worse”

Given the state of affairs in Syria now, the situation is about to get a lot worse anyway, especially if we do nothing. The Al-Qaeda groups was gaining the upper hand and eventually the conflict will not only escalate in Syria and Iraq but other surrounding countries. Thousands more will die and millions more could be driven out of their homes and become refugees. The civil war could stretch out for years, maybe even a decade. Are we prepared to sit by and watch for that long?

Intervention hasn’t always failed. In 1971 for example, India invaded Eastern Pakistan to liberate Bangladesh as the Pakistani army was indiscriminately killing and raping thousands of civilians. The intervention saved lives and prevented a drawn-out chain of atrocities. Similarly, in cases such as Rwanda, Kosovo and Congo, earlier military intervention would have saved thousands of lives. We keep saying ‘never again’ yet we keep repeating the same mistakes.

We can’t make the situation any worse than it is going to get. At the very least there is a chance we can stop the bleeding before it gets much worse. The humanitarian case is now overwhelming.

“It’s their mess – let them sort it out”

If we do nothing, sooner or later the ‘mess’ will affect us. If al-Qaeda groups establish a powerful base in Syria, they will use it to re-group, re-arm and strengthen themselves away from the drones and soldiers in Afghanistan and Pakistan. A powerful Al-Qaeda base in the heart of the Middle East will almost certainly affect us as it will be used to organise attacks on western targets.

We either work to stop such a base being established now, or wait until later when an inevitable military intervention will be much more difficult and drawn out.

“We were taken to war on lies before. Why should I believe this now?”

This is a good question and its important we demand more information from our leaders. But we don’t have to listen to them alone – there is lots of footage from inside Syria clearly illustrating what is going on. The jihadis themselves talk about establishing an Al-Qaeda base.

There are thousands of images and videos of atrocities taking place on a scale starting to rival Nazi Germany. Assad himself admitted to stockpiles of chemical weapons despite denying it earlier.

More independent evidence of atrocities has come out of Syria than any other conflict in history. There is absolutely no need to take the word of politicians to understand what is going on there.

“Why not let the peace negotiations at Geneva2 work instead?

At best, the peace negotiations will allow some relief supplies to get through, or for civilians in some areas to leave. What about a cease-fire, you ask? Well, they were agreed on in 2011 and in 2012 , but each was broken by news of massacres by the Assad government.

In fact, Assad has no incentive to give up and leave because he is getting relatively stronger, and is backed to the hilt by Iran, Russia and Hezbollah. The opposition Syrian rebels don’t want to give up either but are losing supplies and are also being attacked by al-Qaeda groups. The Al-Qaeda groups are certainly not going to negotiate because they see it as a religious duty to get rid of the dictator and establish a Caliphate. It’s about time we accepted this is an ugly stalemate and Geneva2 won’t lead us anywhere.

“Why should the UK go in alone?”

It doesn’t have to. We can work with Nator to establish a force led by Turkey. We can work with the Arab League to organise a much stronger and powerful UN force backed up by a No-Fly-Zone. The Arab League has repeatedly called for this.

In other words, UK and US soldiers neither have to be on the frontline, nor intervene unilaterally. But rather than debating on the sidelines while thousands more get massacred, we should be debating the kind of intervention necessary to stop the bloodshed.