CND has condemned as ‘disastrous and ill-conceived’ the decision of the UK parliament to engage in air strikes in Iraq.
The vote in the House of Commons saw 43 MPs rebel against the government motion on military intervention against the Islamic State organisation in Iraq.
CND General Secretary Kate Hudson said:
‘There is no legal basis for UK bombing in the Middle East: the government is just making it up as it goes along.
‘The UN has adopted a binding resolution compelling states to prevent their nationals joining jihadists in Iraq and Syria but it did not authorise military attacks.
‘Those who claim that legitimacy is provided by the Iraqi Government’s request for air strikes would have been the first to cry foul play if, for example, Syria’s President Assad had requested Russian air strikes against the Syrian rebels a year ago. But when western intervention is on the table all adherence to international law goes out of the window.
‘The grim atrocities carried out by Islamic State have rightly shocked and repulsed the world. But heaping further atrocities onto Iraq through the murder of civilians, which will inevitably occur through airstrikes, cannot be our answer. What is needed now is urgent humanitarian assistance, political pressure and working with allies in the region to halt the spread of this murderous group: not an illegal, disastrous and ill-conceived bombing campaign which will kill civilians and make the situation worse.’