Islamic State

We should envy the people of Manchester their sense of solidarity, but defiance in the face of killers is not enough

Brian Walker on May 24, 2017, 1:16 pm

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British reaction to the Manchester atrocity has not yet reached the level of reproaching the authorities for “ the one that got away.” But it soon will, if the reaction to 7/7 is followed. MI5’s investigation into Crevice threw up 55 individuals associated with the plotters. MI5 said it would have liked to have pursued all of them. But it was a matter of resources and only 15 were seen as “essential” targets. The remaining 40, including those later identified …

Attacking Islamic State vs protecting civilians in Syria?

Patrick Corrigan on September 26, 2014, 9:44 am

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With the start of US-led air strikes on Islamic State targets in Syria this week, and Parliament due to vote today on British military action in neighbouring Iraq, attention is once again focused on the conflict which has cost so many lives since 2011. When G8 leaders met in Fermanagh last year, they committed themselves to helping to bring peace to Syria. The soaring death toll in the sixteen months since, at the hands of Syrian state military, opposition forces and …

Stopping Islamic State in Iraq: parallels with Vietnam

Turgon on August 15, 2014, 10:14 pm

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The ongoing disaster that is Iraq continues. When the Americans (with British help) invaded Iraq in 2003 I must confess to feeling it has the potential to become another Vietnam. As time has gone on that appearance has strengthened centrally in that like Vietnam the Americans would have been wiser not to invade and having made that error the best way to compound it was to leave. The spectacle in Vietnam involved refugees and poor treatment of the old South …