so once again a British government is
gearing up uh to extend military action
in the Middle East it's a Well trod Road
and the outcome has not always been
predictable or Pleasant which is why so
many are hesitant Ellie price has been
looking at the prime minister's case for
action and what role the UK military
might
[Applause]
play that bomb in Paris that could have
been London if they had their way it
would be London I can't stand here and
say we're safe from all these threats
we're not I can't stand here either and
say that we will remove the threat
through the action that we take but do I
stand here with advice behind me that
taking action will degrade and reduce
that threat over time absolutely and
I've examined my conscience and that's
what it's telling
me David Cameron says he no longer wants
to Outsource this sort of action to his
allies Britain is currently involved in
air strikes against so-called Islamic
State but only Ira shown here in the
bottom half of this shot the border for
British forces at least is
crucial is Isis dases whatever you want
to call it control or is free to operate
in sways of territory in Iraq and Syria
it so-called caliphate stretches from
Aleppo in Syria to the outskirts of
Baghdad in Iraq the lines on the map are
relatively fluid it recently lost
control of the Strategic town of sja
that was down to Kurdish forces with the
help of us-led air strikes currently
Australia Canada and France are also
flying bombing missions over both
countries targeting
is according to the latest figures
released on Friday the US and its allies
operating under the banner of operation
inherent resolve have conducted more
than 8 and a half thousand air strikes
against Islamic State targets since the
start of the campaign last year that's
5,500
80 air strikes in Iraq and
2,925 in Syria more than 16,000 targets
have been damaged or destroyed including
more than 4 and a half thousand
buildings nearly 5,000 fighting
positions and 485 tanks and military
vehicles the vast majority have come
from US aircraft but the RAF has run 376
air strikes over
Iraq they've been launched from this
base in Cyprus where Britain has eight
RAF tadoes the base has also been used
to carry out refueling and surveillance
missions over Syria the perception out
there is the question as to whether or
not the UK should be involved in the
campaign in Syria or not the reality is
we are involved in that campaign but in
an inconsistent and very hard uh way to
understand other countries our allies
the Americans and the French in
particular just don't quite understand
where we're up to the PM insists the ra
can provide specific skills that
Coalition partners are Keen to make the
most of the ability to launch highly
accurate Brimstone missiles we are very
good at not killing people collaterally
at the UK so in that sense I think us
moving to Syria is good the sad thing is
no matter how good you are there will be
people innocent people killed but they
are dying anyway because of isol and I'm
afraid there comes a stage where you
have to move forward and do things even
though that sort of thing happens that
cannot be a reason not to destroy ISO
of course Russia is also involved in air
strikes in Syria but its support of
President Assad's regime puts it at odds
with wouldbe anti-is
allies the scale of these tensions
demonstrated when turkey which vly
opposes Assad shot down a Russian plane
last
week most experts agree that air strikes
alone will not destroy the common enemy
of is the grand forces will be needed
but agreeing on exactly who those forces
would B could prove the biggest obstacle
to
peace heavy price reporting we're joined
Now by George Galloway welcome back to
the program Islamic state has used its
bases in Iraq Syria to launch terrorist
attacks on Tunisia Paris beut Russian
passenger Jed over the Cai desert and
others what should be done to thwart it
if not British bombing what should be
done to hit it in its heartlands well
most of these terrorist attacks were
actually carried out by people who were
living in the countries in which they
operated Tunisia France Belgium and so
on so you're not actually going to
physically stop people by bombing raqa
turning up on the streets of Paris but
the planning and the logistics and so on
involved Islamic State I doubt that you
know there's not many Logistics involved
in taking weapons into a nightclub and
massacring unarmed defenseless people
you just need a psychopathic mindset and
the access to the weapons and there are
many weapons in Europe nobody's
suggesting these weapons came for
example from Syria but I don't want to
dodge your question I'm as uh strongly
in favor of destroying Isis and Al-Qaeda
as anybody else more than uh the Cameron
government or they wouldn't be
tolerating a situation where our friends
turkey and Saudi Arabia have been
supporting these people for years and
until now are uh supporting them I just
think I mean we we are steeped in blood
so far but it is bloodier to go on I
promise you so what would you do I would
support the people who are fighting Isis
and Al-Qaeda and these other groups on
the ground that is the governments of
Iraq governments of the government of
Syria the ypg militia in uh uh in the
Kurdish area of Syria that your peace
your package referred to give them
weapons uh give them every kind of
support that we can interdict the
support that's going to them from Turkey
and Saudi Arabia that's a far better way
than us joining in do you support
Russian attacks on the anti-assad forces
in Syria I do if the uh as they are
coordinated with the uh Syrian
government's Army because then the
territory is taken by the Syrian Arab
Army
which five years uh British attacks on
is forces in Iraq at the request of the
Iraq government I do and if they were as
they are in Iraq coordinated with the
government that makes sense militarily
and if we coordinated our involvement in
Syria with Russia and the Syrian
government I'd support that too but it's
because I'm pretty sure that the British
government's real game is regime change
and because we've seen regime change
before in Iraq and Libya and it all
ended so disastrously that I'm against
it it's not because I'm a pacifist I'm
not a pacifist I I I've I've seen you
say this and there is undoubtedly there
was a time when Mr Cameron's first
priority was to get rid of the Assad
regime and of President Assad but isn't
it clear to you now that Mr Cameron
realized that defeating Islamic state is
more important to Britain's National
interest than getting rid of Mr Assad if
it were you probably wouldn't have me on
because I'd be supporting it but I don't
believe that and I pray in Aid his
utterly farcical claim in the house this
week or last week uh that there were
70,000 thousand moderate Rebels armed
and ready to take over the land uh
liberated by our you thought that was
fantasy there's not 7,000 if there's 700
I'd be surprised therefore what's going
to happen we'll bomb territory which
will then be taken by other so-called
moderate Fanatics the ones as I said to
you before that only eat half your heart
only half your head off should we now
regard the Russians and the Assad regime
as our allies in the fight against
Islamic State definitely and we had the
chance after the uh Security Council
decided unanimously a couple of Fridays
ago we had that chance but that was
incinerated by our Ally erdogan in his
attack on the Russian Air Force bombing
these people uh uh shot out of the sky
provoking a crisis between East and West
between NATO and uh and Russia which was
completely unnecessary and completely
contrary to any legitimate War aims
could it not still be put together
despite that well uh I I I wish that it
could I suspect that it won't Russia is
now taking counter measures against
turkey if we had time to discuss it I'd
I'd elaborate this point turkey is the
source of this problem the Turkish
border has been open to these people
they are selling their stolen oil
billions of dollars worth the Islamic
State selling its oil to Turkey yes Iraq
and Syrian oil is being stolen by isil
and Al-Qaeda and sold in Turkey uh I
believe to relatives of erdogan uh which
is then sold onwards to neighboring
countries you can't be serious about
fighting isil while your NATO Ally is
openly collaborating with them that's
why I suspect Cameron you follow very
closely what is going on in the labor
party at the moment does Mr Corbin have
an alternative to a free vote when this
comes up for vote in the Commons if I
were him I'd whip the vote was his
enemies and they are as you rightly said
Charlie amolly denied it in Perpetual
Rebellion to overthrow Corbin if I were
Corbin this is the terrain on which I
would fight because our record of
intervention in the Middle East is so
bad because the likelihood of it not
going well is so high I would dare these
Rebels to facilitate David Cameron's War
wouldn't that rip the labor party apart
or would that be the intention kind of
looks to me as if it is ripping itself
apart this is 1931 Revisited this is
Ramsey MacDonald in Reverse The Leader
remaining loyal to the party and the MPS
joining effectively a national
government in terms of War and Peace at
least so if I were Jeremy Corbin I would
whip this vote and let the labor members
uh pass verdict on those that troop into
the lobby with Liam Fox and David
Cameron because I'm pretty sure this is
not going to end
well even at the expense of ripping
apart your Shadow cabinet too you would
be you'd be whipping a shadow cabinet
where there seems to be a majority
against Mr Corbin's position some of
them might surprise you with their
Fidelity to the party in those
circumstances but others might go but
they are supporting the elected leader
uh as the Rope supports the hanging man
and a hanging man is exxi in the end
what uh are the chances do you think Mr
Corbin following your advice uh probably
not I would think uh listening to John
McDonald and uh and Ken Livingston that
they're going to go for a free vote that
will merely postpone the p and give Mr
Cameron his big majority give him a big
majority and it will postpone only the
pooch against Corbin seems to me time to
face that up George Gallow thank you for
being with us air strikes alone will not
be effective they've got to be in
coordination with credible Ground Forces
now the suggestion that there are
70,000 non-islamist moderate credible
Ground Forces I have to say is a
revelation to me and I suspect most
other members in this house