Durkan speaking at Westminster: act with humanitarian aid not more bombs

Speaking in Westminster on Thursday (August 30) Londonderry MP Mark Durkan said: “The fact is, our rightful outrage, that might motivate military intervention, does not excuse us from having moral responsibility, for any outcomes that might flow from that intervention.”

The former SDLP leader said the Government should be providing humanitarian aid not seeking a mandate to bomb the Syrians.

“Those of us who have concerns about the government’s position, aren’t saying that we don’t act, that there should be no action,” he said. “Action is needed on a humanitarian basis.”

Prior to the debate Mr Durkan warned about the appalling prospect of a vindictive strike against Assad.

He carried this theme onto the floor of the House of Commons stating: “The idea that retribution is the going rate for military action in the Middle East in circumstances when we are usually trying to counsel the various players in the Middle east against their naturally impulses for retribution seems to me to be a very rash as well.”