This Is Not Our War

In 1994, after they had elbowed aside Gordon Brown for being one of those weirdoes who were interested in politics, the Blairite media treated the two vastly more experienced candidates for Labour Leader as jokes. Now that "surgical" bombs turn out to have hit the Iraqi Army,  John Prescott writes:

So here we are again. ­Parliament backs British military action in the Middle East and we’re bombing by the weekend.

This time the enemy is not the Taliban or Saddam Hussein.

The latest “threat to Britain” is Islamic State.

History is repeating itself. And as someone who has to live with the consequences of what happened in Iraq, I urge all political parties to think again.

Cameron says we shouldn’t be “frozen by fear” because of what happened 11 years ago. But yet again we are being led by the US.

This is not our war, or theirs. It is a regional religious dispute that we should leave to the Arab nations.

Bombing is never clinical. From Dresden to Gaza, innocent people are often chalked up as “collateral damage”.

Do we as a country really want to be responsible for that again?

The US and our government say the aim is to destroy and degrade the militants.

But since America started bombing IS positions, it’s claimed 6,000 people have joined its army – 1,300 from outside Syria and Iraq.

IS desperately wants Britain to join in. The public beheadings of ­journalists and other hostages were an open invitation for the West to strike.

They’re desperate to drag us in so they can paint this as a true Holy War.

To some, it will legitimise IS’s self-proclaimed statehood and lead to further recruitment and funding from around the world.

Up until a few weeks ago, Obama admitted he had no strategy to combat IS.

Launching solitary Tornado jet air strikes shows he still hasn’t got one.

Tony Blair said air strikes alone won’t destroy IS. He’s right.

He also said the US and UK should follow up by putting boots on the ground. On that, he’s absolutely wrong.

We spilt far too much British and Arab blood in Iraq and Afghanistan. The thought of sending our brave men and women to war again fills me with dread.

Because make no mistake, this WILL be a war. Not a limited air strike. We will get sucked in. Again.

Our air strikes on Iraq will only lead to calls for the UK to join the US and five Arab nations in bombing Syria. Cameron said in the Commons debate he saw “no legal barrier” to this.

It looks like he will shoot first in Syria and seek Parliament’s backing later.

When strikes on Iraq and Syria prove inconclusive, I predict there’ll be limited troop ­deployment.

When that fails to work, we’ll send more boots in. And I bet they’ll be British.

This will be mission creep, pure and simple.

As Major General Tim Cross, a veteran of the last two Gulf Wars, warned: “Be prepared for a long, bloody, expensive war.”

US Secretary of State John Kerry said it could take at least three years.

In May 2015, Ed Miliband as Prime Minister could inherit a long and protracted Middle East conflict from Cameron.

By then it could have ­escalated into an all-out conflict that ­destabilises the whole of the Middle East.

That’s why it’s vital Ed sticks to his guns and goes no further than supporting air strikes on Iraq.

No attacks on Syria. No British boots on the ground. Those are lines in the sand we must not cross.

I am “frozen with fear”, Mr Cameron. Fear that we will enter another decade of death and ­destruction with no resolution.

I live with the aftermath of our Iraq invasion every day.

This is not our war. This is not our land.

Let the Arab nations sort this.

We must stay out.