'Please Do What You Can Now to Halt this Rush to War' says Peter Hitchens.
I'm not a technical superstar and I don't know how to do one of those jazzie websites where you can contact your MP. What I suggest you do is copy the text below and then go to http://www.writetothem.com/ where in less than two clicks you can find your MP and fill in the email message box with the text. It is a good idea to make your message more personal and add some sentences or more reasons why we should not intervene in Syria.
Please do this, the more emails your MP the receives the better informed he will be in the vote. Also Please share/tweet this around so more people can write to their MPs. Thanks.
I write to you with concern over the trajectory that the British government is taking us over Syria. It seems inevitable that soon the Government will be moving to war against the Syrian President Bashar Al Assad. I ask you to vote against any military intervention in the Syrian Civil that the government will propose in the Parliamentary debate on Thursday. There are many reason why we should not back military intervention in Syria but the most compelling is that our objectives are unclear and also will be unsuccessful.
If our objective is to protect Syrian civilians we are likely to fail. This war even if we intervene is likely to take a long time and cost many more lives. It has already cruelly killed 100,000 people before the chemical attack our action will not stop more deaths. Moreover, if our actions do not allow Assad to be defeated then he will brutally oppress anyone who he thought had any connection to the Syrian Opposition. On the other hand a Syrian Opposition victory would see an equally bloody fight for control of the government, this will be at best this will be mass civil violence at worst another civil war
Furthermore any intervention will escalate tensions causing more sad deaths across the region because the Syrian Civil War is also a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Both these states are waging a war that has already spilt into Iraq and Lebanon, with a high increase of deaths in these countries. This will become much worse if the West intervenes as Iran is likely to attack our NATO ally Turkey and other friendly states in the region. The United Kingdom would also be under increased attack from terrorist forces from the Iranians.
If our intention is to bring about democracy in Syria our intervention in the country certainly will not help. If we were to intervene in Syria we would have to be more hands on politically and create the democracy there. This would lead to greater alienation from the Syrian people because the country is such a broad mix in opinions, many sceptical of the West and the Opposition. The Opposition itself is made up of a mix containing a minority of liberals and a majority of Islamists who spurn a democratic government in favour of an Islamic state. Should we chance democracy in Syria by backing Islamism? Islamism has been allowed to take control because of the lack of organisation in the Opposition. This lack of organisation is also leading to Assad having the upper hand in the conflict.
The only feasible way Syria can become a democracy is through a reorganisation of the Syrian Opposition to clearly define whether a post Assad government would be a liberal democracy or an Islamic dictatorship. The Syrian people can thus make a better decision on whether to back the opposition. If the Syrian Opposition chooses liberal democracy the Syrians will more so choose to support the Opposition and thus lead to a more likely downfall of Assad. The only way for a stable democracy to be formed in Syria is for her people to choose to accept it and for them to fight for it.
There is thus a strong moral cause against war in Syria. We will not save anymore civilian lives and we will not bring about democracy; indeed, our intervention is likely to kill more and stop democracy. This is clear in the minds of the British People too as only 9% of the public support our military action and only 16% support arming the Opposition. I appreciate that many MPs do not decide whether they are to vote for a proposed motion until they have seen it written on the order paper. But I hope that you will side with me and not vote for British militarily intervention in the Syrian conflict.
I look forward to your speedy reply.