I agree with you on these points, though perhaps not as much on your last one.

I suppose if you are going to spend trillions on a war you are going to want a cut.....when it comes to military and administrative contracts the Bush administration ensured that it was first in line and that member countries involved also had a cut.

When it's your troops that are dying that's going to happen.

Initially the Iraqi government was a puppet....that was necessary but it isn't true to say they are puppets now.

As for Syria.....I don't see any western countries committing regular troops in fighting capacities.....special forces no doubt but no mass deployments. I see air support similar to the Libya campaign.

'Who are you and how did you get in here? I'm a locksmith. And, I'm a locksmith.' (Leslie Nielsen)

With Assad, the apple didn't fall far from the tree.

'Who are you and how did you get in here? I'm a locksmith. And, I'm a locksmith.' (Leslie Nielsen)

Assad is an animal who preys on his own people. He's apart of a family dictatorship and is determined to continue it. For this result he's allowed himself to be a puppet of Iran and Russia to achieve those ends.

However Assad isn't a Islamic fundamentalist and unfortunately.....after the west abandoned the early Syrian resistance the only large forces opposing Assad (excepting the Kurds who are secular Muslims) are IS extremists or similar groups....there are some lesser Muslim brotherhood type groups as well but basically they all want to rule with a form of Sharia.

Also, unless we went full out war with all three Russia, Syria and Iran we have no way of deposing Assad. We could attempt to 'target' him but it's going to difficult and what comes after him?

The best chance was early intervention when a large proportion of the Syrian army had rebelled and the extremists weren't at the fore front of the resistence.

But the left voted that down in the House of Commons and Obama bottled it.....Obama made some of the worst foreign policy decisions of any president in living memory.

So I think the best case is an Assad in the south and the Kurds in the north.....fcuk Turkey.....Turkey have been playing a duplicitous game.

'Who are you and how did you get in here? I'm a locksmith. And, I'm a locksmith.' (Leslie Nielsen)

So I assume we should also be intervening in Yemen where an engineered famine is threatening millions, and in which chemical weapons also seem to have been used by the Saudis?

or maybe it's a bit too close to home given we just agreed another £2 billion arms deal with the house of saud, help train their combatants and just gave their king a royal welcome....just like we used to do for Assad!

If punk ever happened I'd be preaching the law, instead of listenin to Lydon lecture BBC4

'Perfidious Albion' how the UK can do that, for what reason, to starving people in Yemen is beyond belief.

And they are desperate to bomb Syria for the same thing, at least Syrians eat.

Yeah, immigration is so controlled that we must be scared that more foreigners are going to get onto lorries if the west bombs.

Oh please.

'Who are you and how did you get in here? I'm a locksmith. And, I'm a locksmith.' (Leslie Nielsen)