Syria Drone Attack

[fallen-archie]

So the Government of the day has chosen to use a drone in order to target two known extremists. Their deaths have led to cries of foul from opposition parties who question the legality of this action. The SNP going as far as to suggest that the government has ridden rough shod over parliament.
I regret the need for arguments to be settled in this way but when individuals choose to take up arms in opposition to everything this island stands for then sadly I would rather it be them that are targeted than a group of people traveling to work on a bus.
Once again politics will ensure that the issues are ignored as each accuse the others of underhand tactics. I wonder how the SNP would respond to a terrorist act in Glasgow by persons known to the security services but ignored by the Government because they were hiding in another state?

[poscompuk]

So what are you saying?  It doesn't matter how parliament votes, the government (prime minster and his selected cronies) can do whatever it thinks is in the national interest.  Is that how you think democracy should work?

[lightblueberet]

"...I regret the need for arguments to be settled in this way..."

You said it fallen...In theory, in a true democracy, those who rule are accountable to those they rule ! 

[fallen-archie]

No I am not saying that, I believe however that regardless of who is in power they have a mandate to protect us. How do you manage strategic information within an open debate?
And yes all parties have cronies, but we the voters have to manage that. There are no easy solutions and sadly no winners where conflict is concerned. If the best answer is to sit around a table with ISIS and others then I don't have a problem with that but I have seen no signs thus far of a willingness to anything other than kill, Mame and oppress.

[joamur_gosof]

Here is what and where the answer lay.

Was a simple answer to a simple question at the end of world war 2 and the question was ''how do we stop this disgrace from happening again'' and the answer was ''ban  all weopon making throughout the world ''.....As a species it was easy as a greed induced selfish monkey,it was impossible...welcome to 2015 space odessy .Welcome to borders and nations ,rulers and ruled and of course welcome the obvious species of disaster.

No wonder everyone else in the universe lives so far away,I mean who would live next door to us 🙂

On thread topic....I think there is something wrong and not being told as the whole 'normal' worlds army cannot sort out a few thousand loonies with guns in over 5 years ...russia america sweeden austrailia germany holland belgium uk france norway hungary romania finland austria 50 percent of arab nations ,50 percent of india ,japan denmark bulgaria switzerland croatia serbia canada ireland  china to name but a few ...and nope cant pull this biggy off ?

[poscompuk]

But wasn't it some of those countries who supported and encouraged the people of Syria to revolt in the first place, leading to the environment where IS could flourish?  Looks like, yet again, the west have created a monster much more dangerous than the monster they were trying to remove.

[upthecreekyetagain]

Would it be acceptable for the UK government to authorise the use of a drone to kill someone in the UK?  

Was it acceptable for SAS hit squads to murder suspected IRA members?

I find it worrying that many seem to think that murder sanctioned by a politician is nothing to be concerned about.

[joamur_gosof]

Could not agree more ,..,the answer was to stop leaders of nations existing and become a worlds people ,anyone who wanted t'o be in charge' should have been ignored ..anyone who wanted to make weapons ignored and banned from doing so on a world scale...ie no one for any reason ,needs weapons ....A world police in unity with the peaceful natured ...ahhh well day dream...

Creeky is also right ,why is anyone saying boom the odd person here or there is ok for the safety of others ....I mean in the present climate and nutters with guns etc then hey why not..lets all have a gun and see who we would shoot...gun fight at the ok coral x 6 billion ...awesome ,I would rather have that option if the alter ban weapons is a no...why have some goon you don't  really agree with decide all ok to send boom boom and in which case all ok to send a boom boom back I would have thought.

The worlds leaders (and I use the term loosely) have not honoured 1 single brave life lost in the second world war...not a one ,and that is as dispicable as it gets for me and here we all are. 

What to do with here we all are..is anybodies guess now ,we can only pray something happens that sends everyone away happy and its lesson is learnt. WARNING ,health hazard..DO NOT HOLD YOUR BREATHS 🙂

[fallen-archie]

The targeting of IRA cells probably saved more lives than it took and certainly accelerated the peace process.
Just because people have a cause does not give them the right to murder innocent people and the IRA being paramilitaries were a legitimate target.
That does not mean it should be encouraged but by all means offer up alternatives proven to work.

[upthecreekyetagain]

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@fallen-archie wrote:
The targeting of IRA cells probably saved more lives than it took and certainly accelerated the peace process.
Just because people have a cause does not give them the right to murder innocent people and the IRA being paramilitaries were a legitimate target.
That does not mean it should be encouraged but by all means offer up alternatives proven to work.

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Do you not see the irony in the above - a "cause" does not give anyone the right to murder but apparently it imbues the right to be murdered.

[fallen-archie]

Yes I do see the Irony, but if the cause chooses violence they can hardly complain when others seek to respond in kind. I am quite certain if you and I had crossed into Syria to seek a discussion with the two guys our lives would have been at peril despite our good and genuine intent. As hard as it is such action is sometimes justified. I do understand the right of others to disagree.

[upthecreekyetagain]

I do want my government to take direct action against those who pose a real threat to our citizens.  However if they do take such action then I expect them to be able to publicly justify their action and not hide behind a cloak of 'national security'.

If they're not willing or are unable to put forward such evidence then they can expect to face internal and external criticism.   If greater demands had been made on earlier governments to justify their actions in the Middle East we might not find ourselves in the mess we are today.