The UK Parliament decided to begin airstrikes in Iraq.
Britain finally decided to join the airstrikes against ISIL earlier today.
After a seven-hour debate, members of Parliament held a vote that resulted in 524 votes in favor of the airstrikes and 43 that were not. The airstrikes will be limited to Iraq for the time being.
Prime Minister David Cameron delivered a speech describing the need for England to act, and in particular to join the coalition of 60 some countries in air strikes against the Islamic State.
“Mr. Speaker this is not 2003, but we must not use past mistakes as an excuse for indifference or inaction”, Mr. Cameron said. “We will play our part in destroying these evil extremists, we will support our Muslim friends from around the world as they reclaim their religion, and once again our inspirational armed forces will put themselves in harm’s way to keep our people and our country safe.”
During the debate, those not in favor of the strikes claimed that the decision to drop bombs in Iraq would be doing exactly what the Islamic State wants.
“Everything that I see from IS is telling me that they’ve been teasing us, they want us to go in and bomb them… I do not believe that today’s strategy is the right one,” said Nigel Farage, leader of the UK Independent Pary (UKIP).
The Royal Air Force has 6 Tornado planes that have been on a base in Cyprus since August. They are poised for air strikes in Iraq.
Britain must now decide whether or not to begin a campaign in Syria. The British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon told BBC, “Isil is based in Syria, that's where it's headquarters, resources and people are. They have crossed the border into Iraq, and to deal with Isil you have to deal with and defeat them in both Iraq and Syria. The logic follows.”
The Prime Minister supported the idea of being involved in Syria in his speech. “I am very clear: Isil needs to be destroyed in Syria as well as Iraq. We support the action that the US and five Arab states have taken in Syria,” he said.
Similar to the U.S., Britain does not want to have boots on the ground, but wishes to support the Iraqi and Kurdish armies as they fight against ISIL.
