Air strikes on Isis are a ‘best course of action’ not warmongering

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/28/air-strikes-isis-not-warmongering

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All eight letters (27 September) about the air strikes against Islamic State (Isis) that you printed were opposed to them. Most of us who have been inclined to support them would concede it is possible for intelligent, fair-minded people to take such a view. What is shocking, however, is that not one of these opponents of air strikes faced up to the corollary of their position: that they would have been content to accept the high probability of the massacre and barbaric ill-treatment of thousands of people if air strikes were not stemming the Isis advance. In their vituperation, they also failed to recognise that it was not just “Bullingdon Boy” Cameron having his “Falklands moment”, but the great majority of all the main parties who backed air strikes. Why do they assume that in backing air strikes (not ‘indiscriminate bombing’ as asserted) all these MPs must have done so out of a “warmongering” appetite for ‘England’s self-aggrandisement’ rather than from a conscientious view of the best course of action?Edmund GrayOxford