{"id":12382,"date":"2018-04-18T17:29:26","date_gmt":"2018-04-18T16:29:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/?p=12382"},"modified":"2018-05-02T16:01:54","modified_gmt":"2018-05-02T15:01:54","slug":"parliament-in-group-speak-over-syria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/parliament-in-group-speak-over-syria\/","title":{"rendered":"Parliament in ‘Group-Speak’ over Syria"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>
The UK Parliament<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Proceedings in the House of Commons yesterday and on Monday seemed to be in a parallel universe. \u00a0Member after member rose to say something had to be done about Assad and his gas\/chemical attacks.<\/p>\n

On Monday, out of 140 MPs who spoke, only around thirty were in any way critical of the bombing raid. \u00a0Most of those were more concerned that Parliament had not voted prior. \u00a0As indeed it should have done. \u00a0Only two, Edward Leigh and Richard Bacon, mentioned Syria\u2019s Christians.\u00a0 Only Naseem Shah asked whether the alleged attack actually took place.\u00a0 (And Mrs Shah is not normally someone with whom we have any agreement.)<\/p>\n

It may well have done. \u00a0But we need honesty from our rulers. \u00a0On Monday, and on Tuesday, all we saw was ducking and diving, assertions, and pleas to ‘trust us.’ \u00a0Sadly, successive governments have poisoned the well of public trust. \u00a0That should be the focus for our prayers.<\/p>\n

Theresa May dodged the Barzah question<\/h2>\n

Theresa May responded to all Jeremy Corbyn\u2019s questions on Monday bar one.\u00a0 And what was that one? \u00a0It was the point we raised on Monday in our article.\u00a0 And it was to do with a report from the\u00a0Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. \u00a0This report was dated March 2018. \u00a0It stated, in paragraph 11<\/a><\/strong>:<\/p>\n

‘the inspection team did not observe any activities\u00a0inconsistent with obligations under the Convention during the second round of inspections at the Barzah and Jamrayah facilities.\u2019<\/p>\n

Jeremy Corbyn asked<\/a><\/strong>: ‘In relation to the air strikes against the Barzeh and Him Shinsar facilities, the Prime Minister will be aware that the OPCW carried out inspections on both those facilities in 2017 and concluded that\u00a0\u201cthe inspection team did not observe any activities inconsistent with obligations\u201d\u00a0under the chemical weapons convention. Can the Prime Minister advise the House whether she believes that the OPCW was wrong in that assessment, or does she have separate intelligence that the nature of those activities has changed within the last five months?’<\/p>\n

Mrs May ignored the question and sadly, Mr Corbyn did not press her.<\/p>\n

Mrs May dodged it again<\/h2>\n

It was left to Caroline Lucas<\/a><\/strong> (Brighton, Pavilion) (Green) to pick up the Barzah point again.<\/p>\n

‘The Prime Minister has said that the legal basis relies on there having been no practicable alternative to the use of force. Further to that, can she confirm exactly when the UK identified Him Shinsar as a chemical weapons storage facility, when it identified the chemical research facility at Barzeh as a chemical weapons research centre, when this information was reported to the OPCW and whether the UK has asked the OPCW to inspect both sites?’<\/p>\n

Again, the Prime Minister avoided a direct answer. \u00a0‘We have been very clear that we would like it to be possible for the OPCW to investigate sites in Syria, for there to be proper identification of the chemical weapons and for there to be proper accountability for the use of those chemical weapons.’<\/p>\n

There is only one conclusion. \u00a0The Government had no intelligence on the two sites. \u00a0They were clear of chemical weapons. \u00a0We bombed them anyway. \u00a0That’s a poor show.<\/p>\n

Prime Minster and the OPCW<\/h2>\n

Mrs May then spoke about the alleged attack last year at Khan Shaykhun.<\/p>\n

According to Hansard (Col148), Mrs May said<\/a><\/strong>: ‘The OPCW-UN joint investigative mechanism has found Syria responsible for using chemical weapons on four occasions between 2014 and 2017, including at Talamenes in April 2014, at Sarmin and Qamenas in March 2015\u2014both involved the regime using chlorine\u2014and at Khan Shaykhun on 4 April last year, when the regime used sarin to kill around 100 people, with a further 500 casualties.<\/p>\n

When we first published this article, we accused Mrs May of lying about this point. That now appears to be an unfair accusation and we apologise.\u00a0 The reason for the accusation was this statement from the OPCW:<\/p>\n

The OPCW reported, on 30th June 2017<\/a><\/strong>: \u00a0\u2018the OPCW Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) confirmed that people were exposed to sarin, a chemical weapon, on 4 April 2017 in the Khan Shaykhun area, Idlib Province in the Syrian Arab Republic. \u00a0The FFM\u2019s mandate is to determine whether chemical weapons or toxic chemicals as weapons have been used in Syria; it does not include identifying who is responsible for alleged attacks.’<\/p>\n

The OPCW found no-one responsible for the alleged attack at Sarmin in Idlib province either. \u00a0Its report on that incident is here.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

OPCW-UN Reports on ReliefWeb<\/h2>\n

Nevertheless, there is what appears to be a genuine letter from the\u00a0OPCW-UN joint investigative mechanism on the ReliefWeb site<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0 That does indeed find the Syrian Arab Republic responsible for a Sarin attack at\u00a0Khan Shaykhun.\u00a0 It also finds Islamic State (or ISIS) responsible for a chlorine gas attack at Umm Hawsh.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, what appears to be the Mechanism Fifth Report, also here on the ReliefWeb website<\/a><\/strong>, says:<\/p>\n

‘4. In the Mechanism\u2019s third and fourth<\/a> reports, the Leadership Panel reported that it had reached a conclusion as to the actors involved in the following four\u00a0cases: Talmenes (21 April 2014), Sarmin (16 March 2015), Qmenas (16 March\u00a02015) and Marea (21 August 2015). In relation to the first three incidents, the Panel\u00a0had determined that the Syrian Arab Armed Forces had been involved in the use of toxic chemicals as weapons and that their helicopters had been used to drop barrel bombs in those three cases.’<\/p>\n

The OPCW-UN attributed the attack in Marea to Islamic State.<\/p>\n

ReliefWeb<\/a> is a specialized digital service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).<\/p>\n

Peter Hitchens in his blog casts considerable doubt<\/a><\/strong> on the reliability of the JIM conclusions. \u00a0But they very much suited the Prime Minister in her anti=-Assad rant.<\/p>\n

Dodgy Dossiers<\/h2>\n

It may be that the Syrian Government used chemical weapons at Douma. \u00a0Or it may have been a ‘false flag’ event from the jihadis.\u00a0 It is almost impossible to tell.\u00a0 Mrs May possibly thinks it was President Assad who did it. \u00a0Or at least, she wants him to have done it.<\/p>\n

The trouble is, it is now so difficult to trust our politicians.\u00a0 Two weeks ago, Boris Johnson lied about the information he received from Porton Down. \u00a0That was in the Skripal case. \u00a0Tony Blair lied to the public and Parliament about ‘intelligence’ before the Iraq war in 2003.<\/p>\n

Mr Blair published a ‘Dodgy Dossier’<\/a><\/strong> ostensibly from our intelligence people. \u00a0Saddam had ‘Weapons of Mass Destruction’. \u00a0(If he had, we sold them to him, by the way.) \u00a0His weapons could devastate UK cities in 45 minutes. \u00a0It was all a pack of lies.<\/p>\n

Scientist Dr David Kelly was found dead at that time in suspicious circumstances. \u00a0He was a weapons inspector. He knew all about Iraq and its weapons, or lack of them.<\/p>\n

Post-truth, post-shame<\/h2>\n

Then in 2015, David Cameron lied to Parliament about how many moderate opposition forces could be raised in Syria. \u00a0He said it was 70,000. \u00a0Writing in the Guardian, Roy Greenslade asked<\/a><\/strong>:<\/p>\n

‘Will any prime minister desperate to become a war leader ever tell us the truth? David Cameron\u2019s claim to there being 70,000 Syrian rebels ready to do battle with Isis looks as dodgy as Tony Blair\u2019s dodgy dossier.’<\/p>\n

It is very serious indeed that we cannot trust our political leaders to do something as basic as tell the truth. \u00a0One journalist even said<\/a><\/strong> they have moved from post-truth to post-shame. \u00a0A succession of leaders have poisoned the well of public trust. \u00a0And I have to say, many MPs in the Palace of Westminster simply do not understand that.<\/p>\n

The loss of truth is prophesied in the Bible:<\/p>\n

Isaiah 59:14\u00a0 And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Calling politicians back to truth should be perhaps the main focus of our prayers for Parliament.<\/p>\n

Privy Councillors had a briefing!<\/h2>\n

One Privy Councillor who supported the Government told me he received a briefing with intelligence reports and therefore knew more about the matters in hand than I do. \u00a0 There are at least three problems with that.<\/p>\n

Firstly, Jeremy Corbyn is also a Privy Councillor. \u00a0So is Kenneth Clarke. \u00a0And both of them took a different view. \u00a0And a somewhat different view from each other as it happens.<\/p>\n

Secondly, the ‘White Helmets’ must \u00a0have provided a lot of the ‘intelligence’. \u00a0They were created and are funded by the British Foreign Office. \u00a0They are also embedded with the jihadists we support. \u00a0So guess what intelligence they are going to provide?<\/p>\n

Thirdly, he means only Privy Councillors know enough to make decisions about matters of state. \u00a0In that event, the rest of us in the ignorant masses should shut up. \u00a0But that cannot be how things work here. \u00a0We are all entitled to inform ourselves as best we can, seek the Lord in his word and pray into these things. \u00a0Above all, we must never be deterred from calling our politicians to account, be they never so high.<\/p>\n

Syria’s Christians<\/h2>\n

Finally, the two MPs who mentioned Syria’s Christians were\u00a0not among those we regularly mention as ‘Christian MPs.’ \u00a0They were the Anglican, Richard Bacon, and Sir Edward Leigh, a Roman Catholic .<\/p>\n

Mr Richard Bacon (South Norfolk) (Con)<\/a><\/strong> interrupted Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (col 134). \u00a0He said: ‘I am listening with great interest to my hon. Friend\u2019s speech’. \u00a0Then he asked: ‘What would be the plight of the Christians in Syria if Bashar al-Assad were deposed?’ \u00a0Sir Geoffrey replied: ‘It is very hard to know.’<\/p>\n

With respect, ‘No it isn’t, Sir Geoffrey!’ \u00a0They would be butchered.<\/p>\n

According to Network Norwich<\/a><\/strong>, Mr Bacon\u00a0‘firmly believes that problems in the Middle East can be resolved through improved relations with Russia and Iran (He is co-chair with Jack Straw of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Iran, has visited the country and seen the fairness and kindness of the people.)\u00a0 \u201cBlessed are the Peacemakers.\u201d’<\/p>\n

Sir Edward Leigh<\/h2>\n

Sir Edward Leigh’s contribution was in the form of a speech rather than an interruption. \u00a0It starts at column 236 in this Hansard record and is well worth reading<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Firstly, Sir Edward quoted a line from the statement from the leaders of three of Syria\u2019s largest churches: \u00a0\u201cIt causes us great pain that this assault comes from powerful countries to which Syria did not cause any harm in any way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0Here is the full statement on the Antioch Patriarchate website<\/a><\/strong>. \u00a0It was posted immediately after the bombing raids.<\/p>\n

Secondly,\u00a0Sir Edward said ‘These Christian leaders are under great pressure from the Assad regime to toe the party line, as it were. \u00a0But the fact is that their responsibility is to protect their own communities, which are under unprecedented pressure. \u00a0We have to take some account of the pressure on Christian communities.<\/p>\n

Thirdly, he shared how US and UK bombing in the Middle East puts Christian lives at risk all over the Muslim world.<\/p>\n

Finally, Sir Edward concluded: ‘The fact is that as much as we detest Assad and as much as he is a dictator, none of us, as Christians, would want to live in area of Syria that was outside Assad\u2019s control, because \u200b<\/span>he would protect us. That is a difficult thing to say in Parliament and not everybody will agree with it, but I have to say what I have to say.’<\/p>\n

Sir Edward told me afterwards he ‘was heard in silence\u2019.<\/p>\n

Pray for Parliament<\/h2>\n

If you wish to read all the Hansard for Monday 16th April 2018 or Tuesday 17th,\u00a0here is a link to the Parliament website<\/a><\/strong>. \u00a0And here is the link to email your MP<\/a><\/strong>. \u00a0Let your MP know you are praying for him\/her.<\/p>\n

Proverbs 25:5\u00a0 Take away the wicked from before the king, and his throne shall be established in righteousness.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We’ll really appreciate your support
\nClick below to join Christian Voice and stand up for the King of kings<\/strong>
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Proceedings in the House of Commons yesterday and on Monday seemed to be in a parallel universe. \u00a0Member after member rose to say something had to be done about Assad and his gas\/chemical attacks. On Monday, out of 140 MPs who spoke, only around thirty were in any way critical of the bombing raid. \u00a0Most 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freedom<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"Proceedings in the House of Commons yesterday and on Monday seemed to be in a parallel universe. \u00a0Member after member rose to say something had to be done about Assad and his gas\/chemical attacks. 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