Intervening in Syria is in our national interest

I've blogged earlier about how the Commons vote against intervening in Syria was accidental and blamed that largely on David Cameron (though Ed Miliband didn't exactly cover himself in glory).

For what it's worth, I think there should be some sort of punitive action taken against the Syrian regime and if the UK is not going to be part of it then I hope the Obama administration goes ahead regardless.

Lots of the debate around the merits of intervening have focused on the things like whether there is a detailed plan (and exit strategy) for any intervention and what impact intervention would have on the balance of power in the Syrian civil war. The other phrase trotted out regularly is a variation of "it's none of our business and we should not get involved".

As horrific as the suffering has been, caused by both chemical and conventional weapons, intervening in Syria is not really about Syria at all. It doesn't matter whether intervention overthrows the Assad regime or tips the balance of power in the Syrian civil war. The effect of intervention is that it maintains one of the norms of how states behave, namely the taboo against the use of chemical weapons.


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There's a hole in the floor because David Cameron dropped the ball so hard

The news is full of coverage of David Cameron's humiliating defeat in the Commons vote on whether to take military action in Syria. And with good reason, it's a huge event politically and constitutionally. I'm going to deal with the first in this post and the second in another so watch this space. I'll also deal with the actual merits or demerits of intervening in Syria later on as well.

We seem to have arrived, accidentally, at a situation where the leadership of both the Labour and Conservative parties are open to taking part in punitive action against Syria and, where a majority of MPs are likely open to this as well, yet the House of Commons has rejected the very principle of military action outright.

It's hard to decide whether to blame David Cameron or Ed Miliband more for this situation but the title of this post should give an idea of where I fall on that scale. There are two reasons for this (after the jump).

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