And so to war

The day has arrived.

Today, the British government, aided and abetted by her majesty’s opposition, will be taking us to war.

11 years ago, I sat in disbelief as Tony Blair wrecked his own premiership, destroying any possible legacy, by following George Bush’s rush to war. I couldn’t do anything about it – none of us could: we live in an elective dictatorship where we have no say between elections – but I just knew it would all end in tears. The bombing of IS targets in Iraq could end even worse, if it ever ends at all.

We’ve been spun the line that Iraq’s new puppet prime minister has asked us to help with the military campaign. Really? The vast American arsenal in the area wasn’t enough? Apparently not, so Cameron is deploying six Tornado jets to assist in the operation. This is politics, pure and simple.

Of course, it is much easier to persuade the public that military action is necessary when soldiers aren’t dying on the battlefield and coming back to Britain via Wootton Bassett. The idea is that we bomb our way to peace and at the same time equip the Iraqi and Kurdish forces who actually are on the ground.

It’s impossible to have a good word for IS. They’re crazed, psychopathic murderers even on a good day but they are also the Hydra, which just grows a new head when we destroy the other one. Will we really destroy them when, in reality, they are but one group in a middle east where literally hundreds of such groups exist?

And the aim is to destroy them, somehow.

Bush and Blair’s reckless invasion of Iraq, and I believe Afghanistan, soon made things worse, not just in Iraq but almost everywhere in the middle east. The genie is out of the bottle and I see no possibility it will ever get back in it again.

As I have said before, I have no alternative strategy but then I don’t see what we are about to get involved in as a strategy either. Chuck in a few token Tornados and hope it works. And the exit strategy? Er…

I fail to see how this campaign of bombing cannot end up with ‘boots on the ground’ and probably our boots too. Cameron has said otherwise but there are bound to be what ifs somewhere along the way. Events shape politics – and make no mistake, our involvement is political for now – and it is impossible to say for certain that events will not dictate a change of heart as a grim-faced PM addresses the TV cameras explaining why it’s now necessary.

I am as opposed to the rise of islamic fascism as anyone but, for now, we still have a modicum of free speech, and this war will not be in my name. Bomb our way to peace with no exit strategy and no real idea whether this will actually work (although we will surely be told it has worked, however it ends up).

The politicians have convinced the public that military intervention is necessary but then they managed to do that in 2003 too.

My fear is that the outcome – and there may never be a final outcome – could be even worse than the disastrous intervention in Iraq.