Readers’ view: Airstrikes over Syria will do more harm than good

Labour MPs, and shadow cabinet members in particular, are reported to be angry that Jeremy Corbyn has made his anti-interventionist views on the Syria crisis clear to them (Labour in Syria turmoil as PM makes the case for war, 27 November). Some of them are saying his leadership is untenable. They should remember that he was elected as leader by a large majority of party members. His position is widely supported by the membership and many in the UK. They remember bitterly the way in which their views about the war in Iraq were ignored 12 years ago and want no repeat. Labour MPs should abide by the democratic wishes of the party and not seek to undermine – and overthrow – a leader who was chosen precisely to promulgate the views that they, apparently, find so hard to accept. It isn’t Corbyn who is tearing the party apart. It is those who think they have an inalienable right to run the party and don’t like to see it challenged.
Gillian Dalley
London

• The House of Commons is moving towards debating going to war in Syria. The legal basis for any involvement is only the recent UN Resolution 2249, yet there is very little detail how the government’s dossier of proposal will further the aims expressed in the resolution. The Battle branch of the Bexhill and Battle Labour party debated the issue at its general meeting on Thursday night and passed a resolution in the following terms which properly identify the problems with the government’s dossier.

“The Battle branch is willing to support the UK joining the international coalition under the UN Resolution 2249 for military action on the territory under the control of Daesh [Isis] in accordance with the UN resolution. The Battle branch does not consider that the dossier of proposals presented by the UK government on 26 November 2015, which includes bombing Daesh, is sufficient to satisfy the aims of the UN resolution since it does not provide a comprehensive strategy for coordination of ‘moderate’ opposition forces on the ground nor a strategy for the governance of the territories occupied by Daesh once it has been eradicated. Without such a strategy the aims of the UN resolution will not be achieved by the proposed bombing, in particular the prevention and suppression of terrorist acts committed specifically by Daesh and the eradication of the safe haven Daesh has established over significant parts of Syria.”