Britain to engage in more military action in Iraq

[-:Undertaker:-]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/poli...eron-says.html

No new Iraq war, Cameron says

The Prime Minister vows he will not 'put boots on the ground' but says Britain must help thwart the 'monstrous' Islamic State to protect its own streets

Britain will not be involved in another war in Iraq, David Cameron has vowed.

The Prime Minister said the British government would not put be "putting boots on the ground" or "sending in the army" in its fight against the "murderous" Islamic State, formerly ISIS.

However, he warned that terrorists trained by IS will cause “mayhem on our own streets” if the “political and extremism” crisis in Iraq is not dealt with.

Michael Fallon warned that Britain's mission in Iraq will last for months as RAF Tornados and surveillance aircraft are deployed to help "stop the advance" of Islamic State extremists.

David Cameron said that attacks last month in Brussels meant the world had already experienced the first attacks from the "monstrous" terrorist organisation on European soil, and action must be taken to protect from further attacks.

Speaking to the BBC, he said: “I want to be absolutely clear to you and the families watching at home. Britain is not going to get involved in another war in Iraq. We are not going to be sending in the British army.

“Yes, we should use all the assets that we have - our diplomacy, our political relationships, our aid, the military prowess we have - to help other. We should use these things to put pressure on Islamic State and to make sure this organisation is properly addressed and it cannot cause mayhem on our own streets.”

Britain is currently flying ammunition and arms including machine guns from former Soviet bloc countries to Iraq to re-supply Kurdish forces, but the Prime Minister said it would "consider favourably” any requests from the Kurds for direct provision of British weapons.

Mr Cameron added: “They are the first line of defence against these murderous extremists, the Islamic State, which are causing so much damage in in Iraq. And let's be clear, they are also causing damage here in Europe - we have already had the first IS/ISIL motivated attacks in Europe, for instance the dreadful terrorism that took place in Brussels a few weeks ago."

I cannot believe that we're even bothering, let alone spending money, to prop Iraq together again. It's a completely failed state, give the Kurds their independence (they're de facto independent already) and let the rest of Iraq divide along sectarian lines.

What do you think? Should Britain consider military action in Iraq?

[scottish]

They're not engaging in any military action.

They have the rivet joint which is a surveillance aircraft and hercules planes carrying out aid drops on the area (as well as possibly adding Chinooks to assist in the aid drops)

[-:Undertaker:-]

They're not engaging in any military action.

They have the rivet joint which is a surveillance aircraft and hercules planes carrying out aid drops on the area (as well as possibly adding Chinooks to assist in the aid drops)

...

Michael Fallon warned that Britain's mission in Iraq will last for months as RAF Tornados and surveillance aircraft are deployed to help "stop the advance" of Islamic State extremists.

That's military action, whether bombs get dropped is another issue ofc.

I'm concerned about the threat of mission creep.

[scottish]

It's more foreign aid than it is military action.

Yes RAF may be involved but it's not military engagement.

If Japan was hit by a hurricane/tornado etc and we offered them aid, which would most likely be flown there by RAF then would you consider ourself to be engaging in military action with Japan?

Yes it might be a slightly different situation considering other peoples ongoing war there, but point still stands.

Aid, not war.

[karter]

"The invasion of Iraq will surely go down in history as one of the most cowardly wars ever fought. It was a war in which a band of rich nations, armed with enough nuclear weapons to destroy the world several times over, rounded on a poor nation, falsely accused it of having nuclear weapons, used the United Nations to force it to disarm, then invaded it, occupied it, and are now in the process of selling it."

— Arundhati Roy

[The Don]

"The invasion of Iraq will surely go down in history as one of the most cowardly wars ever fought. It was a war in which a band of rich nations, armed with enough nuclear weapons to destroy the world several times over, rounded on a poor nation, falsely accused it of having nuclear weapons, used the United Nations to force it to disarm, then invaded it, occupied it, and are now in the process of selling it."

— Arundhati Roy

This (ISIS) is arguably more deserving of intervention than what happened before though. That's not me saying that we should intervene, but it would be far more justifiable to intervene now than it was before.

[Chippiewill]

Dan, could you stop editorialising thread titles to make them deliberately misleading, it's getting quite annoying.

[hairpins]

yeh if wi hav 2 n it keeps tha horibul pplz away from us :L