United Nations: Making a strong pitch at the UN for the whole world to unite against the evil of the Islamic Sate, British PM David Cameron on Thursday hinted at UK's possible involvement in the air strikes against the extremists in Iraq, contending that “past mistakes” should not be used as an excuse for inaction.
Speaking at the 69th United Nations General Assembly in New York, Cameron appeared to be making a strong case for joining the US warplanes in striking IS targets as he reasoned that “Isolation and withdrawing from a problem like ISIL will only make matters worse”.
Talking about the Islamic State's “murderous” intentions to expand its borders beyond Iraq and Syria, Cameron highlighted the dangers of the ISIS scourge and urged the whole world to unite against the evil of the Islamic State.
"We are facing an evil against which the whole of the world should unite" - read PM’s closing #UNGA speech about ISIL http://t.co/TiIjYcpr1G
— UK Prime Minister (@Number10gov) September 25, 2014
Referring to Britain's involvement in 2003 Iraq war, Cameron said, “We must not allow past mistakes to become an excuse for indifference or inaction”.
The PM added that the right lesson was to act, but act differently and went on to lay out a four-pointed strategy, to deal with the extremism.
The first point Cameron said, was about being comprehensive so that a blow could be struck at the root of the extremism, by defeating their ideology, “so that we win the battle of ideas, not just the battle of military might”.
Next came intelligent action, that means “supporting representative and accountable governments and working with them at their requests, not going in over their heads”.
Cameron also talked about being inclusive that meant working in coordination with the allies, also mentioning Iran as being a potential partner against the IS.
It can be noted that the US did not consult Iran while galvanising an-anti IS coalition that had left Tehran fuming.
Finally Cameron asserted that the nations must be uncompromising , that is, using all options on table - including military force – to hunt down these extremists, even as the US President has made clear that he will not send US combat troops on the ground in Iraq or Syria.
In what appeared as Cameron's justification for his plan to join anti-IS air strikes, the British PM said how the terrorists were recruiting people from all over the world, including 500 British nationals who have fled to Syria and Iraq to join them.
Cameron also mentioned how the executioner of two US journalists and a British aid worker – was most probably a British.
Declaring UK's transititon to a new phase of action, Cameron said he has recalled the British Parliament on Friday to secure approval for the United Kingdom to take part in international air strikes against ISIS in Iraq.
I have requested that Parliament be recalled to debate the UK response to the Iraqi Govt's request for support against ISIL.
— David Cameron (@David_Cameron) September 24, 2014
