Syria

Syria in crisis.

Syria is on the news, online, in the newspapers, it's on every social networking site you can think of; twitter, Facebook, YouTube etc. 

The recent chemical weapons attack in Syria has got people from all over the World talking, and many protesting. 

The West are threatening action, and not surprisingly the President of Syria,  Bashar Hafez al-Assad has said he will retaliate. 

Whatever happens, it's not going to be good, it won't help the situation. 

According to the news Assad used chemical weapons on his own people. 

The West are horrified and feel it's their job to do something about it. 

Yes, it's bad news, but should we get involved?

By we, I mean Britain. 

I say no! Not in my name! 

Thankfully at the time of writing this post, the latest news was that the UK would not be obeying America and going to war. 

Yes, I said war. 

It is war. 

And yes I said obeying America, because that's what we usually do. We do as they tell us. 

President Barack Obama says he intends to carry out a short, sharp attack against less than 50 sites on a list of targets. 

Francois Hollande the President of France is apparently eager to join the US in attacking Syria. 

At this time it doesn't look as though any other countries are willing to join the US and France. 

Germany have said they have no intention of intervening, as have many other countries. 

David Cameron must be fuming. He was clearly very keen to get moving with an attack in Syria. 

I bet he's still in shock that parliament voted against him. 

I'm quite surprised too. 

Surprised and pleased.  

War is not the answer. 

Is is quite mind-boggling that anyone would consider strikes against Syria as helpful in any way. 

How is dropping bombs on Syria helping?

How is it punishing Assad? He won't be hurt will he? 

No doubt it will be yet more innocent lives lost. 

The UN weapons inspectors have now left Syria. 

According to the news it may be as long as 2 weeks until they release their reports, their findings. 

So why is the news reporting that President Obama is ready to strike, possibly in a couple of days, or even in a couple of hours. 

Why isn't he waiting for the UN weapons inspectors reports?

According to the media the British Prime Minister, (but who knows for how much longer?) David Cameron lost the trust of parliament, because he made the mistake of wanting to rush in before he knew for certain that the chemical weapons attack near the capital city of Damascus which reportedly killed 1429 civilians, of which 426 were children, was actually carried out by President Assad. 

I don't believe that it was about timing, I don't believe the majority of British people care that Cameron was too eager to bomb Syria. I think the backbenchers, and the people of Britain just don't want yet another war. 

Everybody knows it's not really about punishing Assad, if he is responsible for the alleged attack on his own people, or even about helping the people of Syria. 

War is rarely truly about what's reported. It's usually about oil, money, power, or all three. 

It all leaves a very nasty taste in the mouth. 

The British media are reporting that the 'special relationship' between the UK and the United States of America is crumbling. 

I wish that was true. But unfortunately I fear it won't be too long before we're back to being their poodle. 

It's probably only a matter of days, or worse still hours, until Barack Obama speaks to David Cameron, the conversation will go something like this, 'Jump Dave!' To which Cameron will reply 'How high?' 

Same old, same old...........

I'm trying to enjoy the good news while it lasts, I'm relishing in the fact that Britain has said 'No!' to America. 

The people, and problems, of Britain should be David Cameron's priority. 

He says we've no money for the elderly and most vulnerable members of British society, for education, the NHS, social welfare, fighting crime etc. and yet he miraculously has money for war. 

I don't know how David Cameron sleeps at night. But considering he doesn't appear to have a conscience, nor care about the people of Britain, he probably sleeps very well. 

The trouble with our politicians is that they just do not live in the real world. They are so protected from everything. They're independently wealthy, and live in a very different Britain to the rest of us. It must be nice living their lives. Shame they have no idea what life in British is really like for the average person. More importantly it's a shame they don't care. 

They work for us. They should ask our options on most things, and especially something as important as whether we declare war on another country. 

I digress, slightly, back to Syria. 

The pictures of the victims of the alleged chemical attack in Syria, that the BBC have been splashing all over the TV screen are awful. 

But the BBC are hardly impartial are they? They should be, but they're not. 

They've been fuelling the fire, warmongering for a while now. It's outrageous. 

I am all for helping people, but our Prime Minister must help his own people first, the people of Britain. 

He should listen to them, us, too. 

Some of the media is reporting that the government has listened to the will of the people. That would be great if it were true, but it's not. 

The real reason that the conservative backbenchers voted against David Cameron is because they know that if they vote for war, when they come up for re-election the British public will not vote them In. Having said that, the vote against Cameron, Britain entering in to a joint attack with the US against Syria is a good result, so I don't suppose it matters how, or why it resulted in the UK not bombing Syria. 

I am hoping, and praying that we don't attack Syria. 

I am concerned that the next time I watch the news it will all have changed, that the 'breaking news' will be that Britain has decided to support its 'friend' America in targeted attacks, dropping bombs on Syria. 

It wouldn't surprise me at all if very soon we are told there is 100% proof that President Assad is responsible for using chemical weapons on his own people. 

Whether or not that is true, is a different matter. 

It's not unlikely that if the powers-that-be think it's necessary 'evidence' will be manufactured to prove whatever they need it to prove. 

Using chemical weapons is against international law, but haven't we, Britain, and the US broken laws too? Haven't we bombed, killed innocent people? Hasn't America used chemical weapons?

I guess the US would say Vietnam was different, they were fighting against an enemy, but Assad is allegedly killing his own people. 

Unbelievable! It makes no difference. People are people. Killing is wrong. 

This blog post was not intended to be an America bashing rant, but the fact that they dropped 2 nuclear bombs on civilian targets has slightly blurred my thinking. 

Surely by bombing Syria, either to punish Assad, or to show they're serious about human rights, and protecting the innocent, makes the West hypocrites? 

Who are we to condemn anyone? Sadly our hands are not clean. 

I'm a British citizen, I live in Britain, so what America does may not seem to be any of my business, but as more or less everything they do affects me, I do take an interest. 

So, having said I think Britain is right not to get involved in Syria, I also think the US should stay out of it too. They won't, but they should. 

I think the Arab League should sort it out. 

We are not the Worlds police. It is not for us to fix everything. 

We are no doubt responsible for causing many of the problems in foreign countries. We really do need to stop! 

I do not understand people, well, some people. We are all the same, all members of the same race - the human race. 

I may sound like an old hippie, but it's 2013 so isn't it about time we stopped all the fighting?

Make love, not war!

Rant over!

What's your opinion about Syria?