Joe, my geography is not the best but Pakistan and Afghanistan are surely not local to Syria. Those that despise American in this region probably do so because of their support for Israel rather than anything else although it is always wrong to generalise about people from this part of the world. The drone that was used in this instance killed three people; the target, another UK national and a third ISIS fighter. Rather than leading people to despise the UK, the act will have been celebrated by Syrians, Turks, Kurds, Iraqis, Iranians, Israelis and Yazidis. I can't accept Paul's parallel with shoot-to-kill in Northern Ireland and the Gibraltar executions. In this instance killing the Reyaad Khan was the only course of action that was available to the Government (other than passing on the opportunity to liquidate him). The point that parliament had not authorised strikes on Syria is not necessarily relevant as the House was in recess. It seems to me highly likely that they would have supported strikes against key targets in limited circumstances. The legal position seems clear. The Government has an obligation to defend us and therefore can act overseas to fulfil this obligation.  Whatever information may subsequently come out about Reyaad Khan it is known that he was part of an organisation that was actively recruiting citizens of this country and was actively planning attacks on this country. To act in self defence under the law of this country you don't have to wait for the other person to strike you or shoot you, you can act pre-emptively if the situation justifies it. This applies at a state level as well as a personal level and there is no question whatsoever that Rayeed Khan would have been responsible for many murders in this country if circumstances had allowed him. That situation is no longer going to arise.

Entire Thread

Topic	Date Posted	Posted By
Drone strike	08/09/15 12:03:00	Brian Coyle
Re:Drone strike	08/09/15 12:07:00	Loraine Pemberton
Re:Re:Drone strike	08/09/15 12:32:00	Cllr Sam Hearn
Re:Re:Re:Drone strike	08/09/15 12:36:00	Paul Corcoran
Re:Re:Re:Drone strike	08/09/15 12:43:00	Huw Burford-Taylor
Re:Re:Re:Re:Drone strike	08/09/15 13:07:00	Colin Jordan
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Drone strike	08/09/15 13:58:00	Paul Corcoran
Re:Drone strike	08/09/15 13:06:00	Richard Greenhough
Re:Re:Drone strike	08/09/15 14:11:00	Cllr Sam Hearn
Re:Re:Re:Drone strike	08/09/15 16:32:00	Joe Conneely
Re:Re:Re:Re:Drone strike	08/09/15 17:59:00	Andrew OSullivan
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Drone strike	09/09/15 09:40:00	Paul Corcoran
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Drone strike	09/09/15 10:08:00	Jonathan Bingham
Re:Drone strike	08/09/15 19:14:00	Penelope Battrick

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