In response to an FT Blog by David Green on 8th September 2015, entitled 'When does the UK government have the license to kill?'
http://blogs.ft.com/david-allen-green/2015/09/08/when-does-the-uk-government-have-licence-to-kill/
"If the UK government wants to re-introduce a general “shoot to kill” policy, but one using drones rather than snipers, then it should say so plainly. The UK government should not hide behind legalistic invocations of Article 51. A “licence to kill” is the stuff of spy fiction, not of foreign policy"
Bravo Mr Green.
Contrast that sentence with this:
"We took this action because there was no alternative"
Garbage.
David Cameron took this action because parliament have blocked his previous attempts to attack Syria, and this is his way around the sovereign wish of the representatives of the people. This is the thin edge of the wedge. In short, he now thinks he can get away with it, particularly if he hides behind 'international law'.
International law is a sick joke. It doesn't prevent any government doing any damn thing if they can get round it with spurious justification, like the UK and France, or simply ignore it, like the US, China and Russia. In the west international law is not used to protect, it's used to justify attack, primarily when the representatives of the people won't let the executive have their own way.
The invasion of Iraq was made on the basis of fabricated evidence - where was international law then? Buried underneath the hubris of a neocon puppet in the White House, and a narcissistic poodle in Downing Street.
We are on the verge of another proxy war between the US and Russia, this time in the middle east. In Europe we have the two old colonial powers vying to look tough. And what are we talking about? The underlying reasons behind the face-off between the US and Russia, such as the Qatari pipeline? No. Whether bombing is a good way to solve a refugee crisis? No. Whether or not the decades long strategy of arming one bunch of killers to kill another bunch of killers, only to end up facing our own guns is working for us? No.
We're talking about whether or not drone killing is legal. It's pathetic. Who do you think you are kidding Mr Cameron? Stupid boy.