SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
In 'Subservience' to Washington, British Pilots Secretly Bombing Syria
Airstrikes are being conducted without parliamentary approval, Reprieve learned through a freedom of information request
Jul 17, 2015
British pilots have been secretly carrying out airstrikes in Syria, despite the government's own pledge to hold a vote in parliament before launching bombardments in the country, the London-based human rights organization Reprieve discovered through a freedom of information request revealed Friday.
In the initial request, Reprieve asked the Ministry of Defense (MoD): "Have any UK military personnel conducted airstrikes in Syria or Iraq using non-UK equipment? If so, how many, where and using whose equipment?"
In response, the MoD said: "UK military personnel embedded with the USA, French and Canadian armed forces have been authorized to deploy with their units to participate in coalition operations against Isil. UK embeds operate as if they were the host nation's personnel, under that nation's chain of command. These personnel include pilots flying... strike missions against Isil targets using the equipment of those units. Of these three nations only the USA and Canada are operating in Syrian airspace."
The reply means that UK pilots have been involved in airstrikes in Syria, under the command of U.S. or Canadian forces.
The UK is participating in the bombings despite the fact that the House of Commons rejected military intervention in Syria in a vote two years ago. Moreover, Defense Secretary Michael Fallon previously pledged to hold a parliamentary vote before launching airstrikes in Syria, but no such vote has taken place.
"It is alarming that Parliament and the public have been kept in the dark about this for so long," said Jennifer Gibson, Reprieve staff attorney. "Yet more worrying is the fact that the UK seems to have turned over its personnel to the US wholesale, without the slightest idea as to what they are actually doing, and whether it is legal."
"We need an open and honest debate about UK involvement in Iraq and Syria," Gibson added. "We can't have that, though, until the UK comes clean about what actions its personnel are already undertaking."
The UK has been carrying out airstrikes in Iraq since last September.
The Stop the War Coalition said Friday's revelations "reveal both the government's contempt for democracy and its subservience to Washington foreign policy."
"Stop the War demands the government publicly commits to an immediate end to British bombing of Syria," the organization continued. "More widely we call for an end to military and diplomatic support for Saudi Arabia in its war on Yemen and for a stop to the bombing campaign in Iraq."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Sarah Lazare
Sarah Lazare is the editor of Workday Magazine and a contributing editor for In These Times. She is a former Staff Writer at Common Dreams. She comes from a background in independent journalism for publications including The Intercept, The Nation, and Tom Dispatch.
British pilots have been secretly carrying out airstrikes in Syria, despite the government's own pledge to hold a vote in parliament before launching bombardments in the country, the London-based human rights organization Reprieve discovered through a freedom of information request revealed Friday.
In the initial request, Reprieve asked the Ministry of Defense (MoD): "Have any UK military personnel conducted airstrikes in Syria or Iraq using non-UK equipment? If so, how many, where and using whose equipment?"
In response, the MoD said: "UK military personnel embedded with the USA, French and Canadian armed forces have been authorized to deploy with their units to participate in coalition operations against Isil. UK embeds operate as if they were the host nation's personnel, under that nation's chain of command. These personnel include pilots flying... strike missions against Isil targets using the equipment of those units. Of these three nations only the USA and Canada are operating in Syrian airspace."
The reply means that UK pilots have been involved in airstrikes in Syria, under the command of U.S. or Canadian forces.
The UK is participating in the bombings despite the fact that the House of Commons rejected military intervention in Syria in a vote two years ago. Moreover, Defense Secretary Michael Fallon previously pledged to hold a parliamentary vote before launching airstrikes in Syria, but no such vote has taken place.
"It is alarming that Parliament and the public have been kept in the dark about this for so long," said Jennifer Gibson, Reprieve staff attorney. "Yet more worrying is the fact that the UK seems to have turned over its personnel to the US wholesale, without the slightest idea as to what they are actually doing, and whether it is legal."
"We need an open and honest debate about UK involvement in Iraq and Syria," Gibson added. "We can't have that, though, until the UK comes clean about what actions its personnel are already undertaking."
The UK has been carrying out airstrikes in Iraq since last September.
The Stop the War Coalition said Friday's revelations "reveal both the government's contempt for democracy and its subservience to Washington foreign policy."
"Stop the War demands the government publicly commits to an immediate end to British bombing of Syria," the organization continued. "More widely we call for an end to military and diplomatic support for Saudi Arabia in its war on Yemen and for a stop to the bombing campaign in Iraq."
Sarah Lazare
Sarah Lazare is the editor of Workday Magazine and a contributing editor for In These Times. She is a former Staff Writer at Common Dreams. She comes from a background in independent journalism for publications including The Intercept, The Nation, and Tom Dispatch.
British pilots have been secretly carrying out airstrikes in Syria, despite the government's own pledge to hold a vote in parliament before launching bombardments in the country, the London-based human rights organization Reprieve discovered through a freedom of information request revealed Friday.
In the initial request, Reprieve asked the Ministry of Defense (MoD): "Have any UK military personnel conducted airstrikes in Syria or Iraq using non-UK equipment? If so, how many, where and using whose equipment?"
In response, the MoD said: "UK military personnel embedded with the USA, French and Canadian armed forces have been authorized to deploy with their units to participate in coalition operations against Isil. UK embeds operate as if they were the host nation's personnel, under that nation's chain of command. These personnel include pilots flying... strike missions against Isil targets using the equipment of those units. Of these three nations only the USA and Canada are operating in Syrian airspace."
The reply means that UK pilots have been involved in airstrikes in Syria, under the command of U.S. or Canadian forces.
The UK is participating in the bombings despite the fact that the House of Commons rejected military intervention in Syria in a vote two years ago. Moreover, Defense Secretary Michael Fallon previously pledged to hold a parliamentary vote before launching airstrikes in Syria, but no such vote has taken place.
"It is alarming that Parliament and the public have been kept in the dark about this for so long," said Jennifer Gibson, Reprieve staff attorney. "Yet more worrying is the fact that the UK seems to have turned over its personnel to the US wholesale, without the slightest idea as to what they are actually doing, and whether it is legal."
"We need an open and honest debate about UK involvement in Iraq and Syria," Gibson added. "We can't have that, though, until the UK comes clean about what actions its personnel are already undertaking."
The UK has been carrying out airstrikes in Iraq since last September.
The Stop the War Coalition said Friday's revelations "reveal both the government's contempt for democracy and its subservience to Washington foreign policy."
"Stop the War demands the government publicly commits to an immediate end to British bombing of Syria," the organization continued. "More widely we call for an end to military and diplomatic support for Saudi Arabia in its war on Yemen and for a stop to the bombing campaign in Iraq."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.