THE POLITICIAN

By Lord Robertson, former defence secretary

IN August ,2013, Prime Minister David Cameron and President Barack Obama stood back from taking action when Syria’s President Assad used sarin gas on his people.

It was a time of shame for the West and it opened the door to renewed horrors.

This week Assad again used deadly chemical weapons on his own citizens and we watched children choking to death in their beds.

The world was outraged. But this time anger turned to action. Not before time. The US missile attacks on the Syrian airbase was a signal to the dictator in Damascus that he has to reckon with civilised people saying red lines mean red lines. If he uses these outlawed weapons again, the consequences will be even more severe.

More than half a million people have died in Syria so far.

Millions have been exiled to neighbouring countries and thousands have perished in their escape from war.

Still, with Moscow’s support, Assad continued to persecute those who remain.

All peace efforts have failed. War planes attack hospitals and schools. Barrel bombs rain down on areas which still stand against Assad’s evil regime.

Up to now, thanks to that fatal decision in 2013, we have had to stand back as the carnage of Allepo, Homs and other cities fills our TV screens.

But a new resolve has been stirred by the sights of those suffering and dying from a kind of gas warfare outlawed since the First World War.

US defence secretary Jim

Mattis, a recently retired general, knows the power of military action – and knows the perils of not acting when it is needed.

He also knows military action is only a last resort – when all diplomacy has failed and when red lines have been crossed.

His influence this week on President Trump will have been decisive. To have done nothing would have been a betrayal of not only the people of Syria but would have encouraged more of this carnage.

To have stood back once more would have left the Middle East – and hence the wider world – in much greater danger.

As Britain’s defence secretary I made a tough military decision to save lives.

In Kosovo in 1999, Serbian leader Slobodan Milosovic’s killers were on the rampage.

Some people who should have known better told us that to attack was “unpardonable folly”.

But we did act, thousands were saved and when I received Kosovo’s highest honour last year I saw the gratitude of people who survived because of us and now thrive in peace.

So the responsibility for the US attacks this week, as well as for the disgusting death strikes on the innocents, lies fully with Assad and his cronies.

One day, they will be called to account for the nightmares they have created.

They have blood on their hands. But this weekend they know that the world will not again pass on the other side of the street.

I repeat: not before time.