Despite our Commons' vote - the right result albeit perhaps by accident - we need to be vigilant. With the Americans now beginning to say they will make a bigger strike in which amounts to regime-change, and some UK MPs saying they want another vote, there is still a danger that we will be party to a huge military mistake ... again.
We must continue the pressure on our elected representatives, directly and indirectly, to avoid military action and focus on diplomatic and humanitarian actions.
It's as simple as that.
If you see two people fighting you don't rush up and stab the one you think is
most at fault. Bombing, no matter how surgical the strike is intended to be, is
an escalation of the violence and that is not a humanitarian act and it is not
what the British people want.
The cost of a military strike should
instead be spent on UN-organised aid all around Syria's borders for the
refugees, and the political effort of a military strike should instead be
expended upon diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the civil war. There are no
simple answers, as there were none in Afghanistan and Iraq before, both with
dreadful continuing violence. As a nation and a UN member we need to
relentlessly support democracy and help in brokering peace at every possible
moment.
