I welcome the news that parliament will have a free vote and a debate before any military involvement in Syria. I have blogged at length on my position before but I struggle to see any way in which I would support our troops getting involved on the ground in Syria
We lack a UN mandate, a clear diplomatic unified approach, an understanding of who we would be supporting, what support would involve, and what our objective is. I accept entirely that the civil war is a conflict on our Mediterranean doorstep that sees huge loss of life and a tragic waste of a wonderful country but I remain to be convinced of the wisdom of involvement.
Most history shows that our involvement tends to make situations worse not better. The examples where we have had successful interventions in influencing internal conflicts in places like Sierra Leone, Kosovo or Libya are the exceptions not the rule.
