The Islamic State is as monstrous an enemy as we have seen in recent history. It crucifies and decapitates its victims, holds teenage girls in slavery and burns captives alive. It is wrong to call it a medieval force, because such institutionalised barbarity was seldom seen in medieval times. As far as five centuries of records from the Ottoman Empire can establish, stoning was authorised only once. Isis now regularly stones suspected adulterers to death. It is not seeking inspiration from the Middle Ages. We are witnessing a modern form of evil — and it is spreading fast.
Labour MPs, now accustomed to receiving threats from hard-left activists, were told this week that they would have ‘blood on their hands’ if they voted for Britain to join the coalition against the Islamic State in Syria. That, in itself, is an extremist refrain: the idea that it is wrong to take the fight to any enemy, no matter how monstrous. In this case, the objective is to kill the leaders of the Islamic State and try to stop its advance. The United Nations has endorsed the mission (which is showing signs of success in Iraq) and the nine countries fighting it have been waiting to see if Britain would join in.
This is not a decision about whether to start a war in Syria: war has been ravaging the country for years. The chaos gave rise to the Islamic State, which now controls an area the size of Britain where people live under a reign of terror. The US-led -campaign against Isis, Operation Inherent Resolve, has been pounding its positions in Syria on a daily basis for almost 18 months without much success. The Islamic State has closed all roads out of Raqqa and uses the local population as human shields.
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