British Parliament Wants Proof, Complicating Syrian War

Hague Rejected Demands, But Govt Finally Gives In

Wars are a lot harder to get off the ground when you get into things like “proof.” That’s not how the Obama Administration rolls, and it won’t effect the US decision on attacking Syria, but British parliament has thrown a major monkey wrench into the Cameron government’s plans to join the US in the war.

The lack of legal justification for the war convinced Cameron he needed parliament to rubber stamp the plan, and when they indicated they wanted real proof, it got pretty messy, with Foreign Secretary William Hague vigorously arguing against the idea, declaring that they’d already presented “the maximum amount of evidence” to parliament and had no intention of giving them anything more.

Parliament was insistent, however, and the Cameron government finally backed down and agreed to wait for the UN to finish its probe of what actually happened, something the US has angrily rejected.

Hague in particular didn’t seem happy about the agreement, and insisted that there was no reason for the US to “be constrained by Britain” and could just attack Syria whenever they want.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.