Thanet Green Party Statement on Bombing Syria

Thanet Green Party is saddened by, and strongly disagrees with, Parliament’s decision to join the bombing of DAESH in Syria. There is little evidence to suggest that the massive bombing campaign already taking place in Syria is seriously weakening DAESH’s power and capability. Indeed an expanded bombing campaign may actually assist  DAESH  recruitment and increase  terrorists attacks across the world. This decision will almost certainly lead to the deaths of hundreds, if not thousands, of innocent men, women and children many of whom will be used as human shields by the barbaric DAESH.

Even assuming DAESH is defeated, what then? We are not convinced that the allies have developed any sort of plans for building a new society in Syria to replace the brutal dictators Assad and DAESH. Worse still no genuine  effort has been made  to involve the people of this war-torn nation in determining their future post- DAESH and Assad, particularly the Kurds who have no desire to be part of Syria. This lack of genuine and inclusive post-conflict planning is likely to give rise to a deeply fractured and unstable post – Assad and  DAESH society leading to further  bloodshed in Syria. The Western powers’ long history of reckless and badly planned interventions in Palestine/ Israel Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya should serve as a warning.

We have no confidence that there are, as claimed by our Government, 70,000 fighters of the Democratic Syrian Army, or that their efforts will focus exclusively on the defeat of DAESH, should the UK join the bombing campaign. Indeed they came into existence originally to oppose the murderous and brutal forces of the dictator Assad, and are therefore unlikely to abandon this cause. The likely outcome, therefore, is a long drawn-out civil war.

Thanet Green Party is totally opposed to the cruel and brutal dictators DAESH and Assad. We would support the use of force against these  despots  providing that:  

·     comprehensive and inclusive post- ISIS and post-Assad plans for Syria are prepared and agreed;

·     robust diplomatic efforts are made  to cut off ISIS’ supplies of weapons, money and volunteers for Assad or DAESH;

·     our relations with those countries who support Assad or DAESH are reviewed and re-evaluated;

·     credible ground forces are available to be deployed under the auspices of the United Nations against DAESH.

Without these actions, violence, warfare, the death of innocent people, the growth of refugee numbers and the expansion of extremism and terrorism are sadly likely to continue for many years to come.