Dear Sir,
Respect to Phil Wilson, for letting his conscience guide his vote on Syria, even though it meant going against his leader, and the majority of the Labour Party. I for one believe that he made the right decision.
Nobody can negotiate with Islamic State, as they don’t have any demands except total submission to their religiously inspired, twisted ideology.
It’s very likely that, sooner or later, there will be another successful terrorist attack in the UK (the security services have already thwarted several planned attacks this year), but this can’t be avoided by leaving our allies to deal with Islamic State on their own.
Yes, we must try to avoid collateral damage. (We don’t want a repeat of WW2, when it was government policy to kill civilians via “blanket bombing”). Yes, we need to cooperate, where possible with Russia, Arab States, the Kurds, and moderate Syrian groups etc. Yes, we need a long term plan to help bring stability to the region, but the most important thing for now is to “degrade” IS.
Phil may be at odds with his own party members, but he is in agreement with a clear majority of the British people.
Dave Catleugh
Honister Place