Pig-headed Labour MPs who welcomed ‘killing’ of Isis militant ‘Jihadi John’ should be vilified for it
Yet again, Corbyn is right and his rebellious backbenchers are wrong.
Not only that, but by making a song and dance about it in public they are courting disciplinary action. Corbyn has made it clear that such behaviour is not acceptable.
Austin in particular deserves to be flung into the political wilderness for his arse-headed tweets, which say more about him than his party leader.
Challenged by a fellow Labour member as to why he thinks it is acceptable to fight terror with terror instead of relying on international justice, he responded sarcastically that the other gentleman was “volunteering to round up the posse and head to Syria to arrest the rest of them. Please form an orderly queue.”
After such a vile display, that’s exactly what Ian Austin can do. He and any like-minded friends can form an orderly queue to leave politics for good.
Jeremy Corbyn is facing a backlash from his own Labour MPs after saying it would have been “far better” if the Isis executioner Jihadi John had been tried in court rather than killed by a US drone strike.
Ian Austin and John Woodcock welcomed the news that Mohammed Emwazi was suspected dead after an air strike targeted him on Thursday night and rounded on their leader’s critical response.
Mr Austin took to Twitter to mock Mr Corbyn’s suggestion that Mr Emwazi should have been put on trial, while Mr Woodcock said the suspected killing of the British militant “sends a clear message”.
Mr Woodcock, who chairs the internal Labour party defence committee, also criticised those opposed to Britain bombing Isis targets in Syria – a position held by Mr Corbyn.
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There has been a worrying trend for extrajudicial killings in recent months. If we have sufficient evidence to authorise murder by drone, then we have sufficient evidence to attempt to arrest the person and arrange for them to stand trial. If they resist with violence and they die in the course of resistance, tough – they made their choice. Every jihadist who dies in a drone strike is a recruiting poster for IS. If we want to present ourselves as civilised countries then we have to start acting like it. We have to start observing due process.
I wouldn’t be surprised if we also found that a few other, innocent people had been killed during the search for Emwazi.
Corbyn does make himself silly by suggesting we arrest members of ISIS. Foam at the keyboard as much as you like, Mike, but Jeremy looks, to quote one of his favourite songs, like a dreamer.
ISIS have declared war on all who are not in communion with their narrow, intolerant take on Islam. Corbyn’s wishy washy call for some undefined international action does not cut it. Hilary Benn’s thoughtful approach, set out this week (https://jodatu.wordpress.com/2015/11/13/the-case-for-a-stronger-united-nations-to-protect-keep-the-peace-hilary-benn/), is both credible and one to engage with the voters about.
My conscience is pricked by the thought of people dying, being raped, sold into slavery, maimed, tortured, forced to convert to Islam or die … Somehow, I do not think those on the receiving end of such treatment, take it a little more easily, safe in the knowledge that there are people in the West virtuously choosing not to even debate how to end their suffering. People who prefer to walk by on the other side rather than get their hands dirty.
Sometimes I wonder, if the holier than thou crowd recall the words of John Donne,
“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were: any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee.”
I don’t foam.
You should pay more attention to the details. If you like Hilary Benn’s approach, then you like Corbyn’s – Benn had it agreed by Corbyn before he publicised it.
I have suggested the west uses its collective intelligence to beat IS, rather than trying to club it into submission with superior firepower – a strategy that has failed repeatedly. What do you think of that?
I suspect that the last thing the USA and Britain want are these people tried in a court of law, because that would put on display all the double-dealing and hypocrisy of the West and highlight the unwarranted military interference in the affairs of other nations.
Have to agree with Corbyn on this it would have been far better for a war crimes type trial on Jihadi John than turning him to a martyr.
Oh yes, we have indeed sent “a clear message” we condone terror and assassination as a means to an end. THAT is what we tell the world when we announce victory in an intended assassination. This is no victory. What is the difference between these terrorist murderers and “civilised society” – the rule of law for one thing, which by our actions we just threw out the window. People who want to jump for joy and be gleeful for having endorsed murder by proxy, assassination and terror strikes should have no place in politics, this is not behaviour we want copied. It makes us no better than those we condemn.
Effectively, what we are saying is :
we believe we’ve enough evidence to convict a person in a court of law;
It’s very difficult to arrest them immediately, though, we could wait and arrest him when it becomes easier; so it’s acceptable to drop a bomb on him, killing him and anybody who happens to be standing nearby.
The above is not a good way of sending the message that we’re the good guys; it’s true, that ISIS have done a very good job of establishing their bad guys, but let’s not join them in a race to the bottom of a dark pit.