The Prime Minister has confirmed the United States has attempted to take out Jihadi John in Syria but it’s unknown whether he has been killed. In a statement outside Downing Street this morning, David Cameron said:
‘We cannot yet be certain if the strike was successful. But let me be clear. I have always said that we would do whatever was necessary, whatever it took, to track down Emwazi and stop him taking the lives of others. We have been working, with the United States, literally around the clock to track him down. This was a combined effort. And the contribution of both our countries was essential.’
Justifying the mission, Cameron said the U.S. strike was carried out in self-defence:
‘He posed an ongoing and serious threat to innocent civilians not only in Syria, but around the world, and in the United Kingdom too. He was ISIL’s lead executioner, and let us never forget that he killed many, many, Muslims too. And he was intent on murdering many more people. So this was an act of self-defence. It was the right thing to do.’
But what is odd about Cameron’s statement is that it was clearly the United States who carried out the strike — not Britain. Parliament has yet to give Cameron permission to bomb Syria, so there is no way ‘we’ could have done this. Given that Emwazi was a British citizen, you can understand why the Prime Minister wants to take credit for killing him. ‘On this, as so often, they’ve been working hand in glove with their American colleagues,’ the Prime Minister said but it remains to be seen what exactly Britain has contributed to this mission.
If confirmation comes through that Emwazi has been killed, Cameron said ‘it will demonstrate to those who would do Britain, our people and our allies harm: we have a long reach, we have unwavering determination and we never forget about our citizens’. Again, the idea that Britain has a ‘long reach’ appears to be entirely dependent on our relationship with the United States and what we can persuade others to do.
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