We must stand by our friends and defeat evil

WE HAVE all seen too much war to treat it lightly or to rush into it as if it were a simple matter. Nobody envies David Cameron as he ponders the question of air strikes against Islamic State in Syria. He knows that such actions can have unintended consequences, that British Servicemen and women might be killed or captured by a barbaric enemy.

He has to bear in mind the possibility that British bombing of Raqqa could be followed by terror attacks on the streets of our cities – attacks for which opponents of the action will seek to blame him.

He understands that bombing by itself is unlikely to turn the balance, and that the question of who exactly will do the fighting on the ground is complicated and – so far – unanswered.

And so it is not surprising that one of the most impressive features of the Prime Minister’s appearance in the Commons to argue for air strikes was his willingness to listen carefully to his opponents, and his courteous and thoughtful responses.

The debate lacked the gangsterish hype and high pressure of the Blair Government’s ruthless and dishonest rush to war in Iraq, and represented a great advance in Britain’s readiness to debate such matters fairly and seriously.

It is clear that Mr Cameron’s arguments are lacking or weak in some important areas. His belief that 70,000 moderate fighters stand ready to help us in Syria, though no doubt sincere, looks like wishful thinking to most experts on that country.

And it is hard to claim that Britain’s bombers, a small force by most standards, can turn the balance or offer anything to the Coalition which the Americans have not already got. Mr Cameron’s patriotic pride may have got the better of him as he suggested this.

The Prime Minister also needs to be clearer about what sort of diplomatic solution he favours. He probably needs to shift – as the French are now doing – away from his absolute refusal to do business with the Assad regime.

But the core of the argument is immeasurably more powerful than these matters. It is this: that Britain stands by her friends and allies in a tight corner, and does not slip away around the corner when trouble threatens. France, wounded and angry, has asked openly for our assistance.

Relations between our two great countries have been complicated and prickly because we are such close rivals. We have not always fought on the same side and we have followed different ideas – see how different the fiery, republican, secular Marseillaise is from the dignified Christian monarchism of our national anthem.

But we each stand together for civilisation against savagery, for law against chaos, and for liberty against tyranny. And when one is attacked by enemies such as the IS death cult, in a cruel massacre of unarmed young people taking their innocent pleasures, the other responds with everything it can provide.

That is what is at stake now, an indissoluble friendship, an unshakeable commitment to the threatened values of Western civilisation, a demonstration that all those warm speeches and expressions of sympathy were not just words, but will also be expressed in a fist, a sword and a shield against a foul enemy whose defeat is essential to cleanse the world of a dangerous evil. Parliament should vote for that.