Five tests for action in Syria that fail the challenge of beating Isis

Dan Jarvis suggests Britain and others will need to “develop a plan” to ensure that Isis is defeated (My five tests for backing military action in Syria, 24 November). I’d like to suggest a different kind of test: the government should promise to resign if its military intervention does not defeat Isis by this time next year. When you reflect on how unlikely such a promise would be, you realise how unlikely it is that the military intervention will succeed. Instead, what will happen is the usual win-win-win for the main protagonists – the government will pretend we are still a world power and try to look strong by bombing people at no real risk to the lives of our military personnel; more people will be radicalised, abroad and at home (it’s almost as if the Paris attacks were intended to have this consequence); and our old friend the military-industrial complex will be rubbing its hands as our armed forces find another spurious justification for their existence and our increased funding of them, and the arms manufacturers continue to profit from supplying all sides in a conflict that will show no sign of ending.