Tuesday 1 December 2015

Bombing Syria : a matter of conscience



There can be little doubt that more innocent members of Syrian families will be injured, maimed and killed if tomorrow evening, December 2nd, 2015, the United Kingdom parliament votes to extend the RAF’s role in the middle-east by allowing it to join with other countries to bomb  ISIL strongholds in Syria. Unfortunately ordinary families, who play no active part in the violence going on there, live in these places. Though there are noble exceptions, we seldom read of, listen to, or view the suffering and loss of these unfortunate people. Their fate does not seem to be an issue which overly troubles our media.
Our reaction to the terrible events in Paris on the night of  November 13th, 2015, lets us know how  unbearable we find the slaughter of innocents.  This may help us begin to imagine the horror Syrians living in their country and those who have fled it  have experienced and are still experiencing.  Since the start of the civil war 250,000 Syrian citizens have died as a consequence of military/terrorist action. Further British intervention will add to those deaths.
The expansion and escalation of military action may or may not  be what people of the United Kingdom want, but we are left to ponder what the worth of a girl’s, a boy’s, a woman’s and a man’s life is. Surely this is the issue Members of Parliament should be weighing up when tomorrow they examine their consciences.

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