Cameron, Liberal Interventionist

He is edging towards it. The Heir to Blair said this in his statement on Libya to the Commons today:

To those who say it is nothing to do with us, I would simply respond, “Do we want a situation where a failed pariah state festers on Europe’s southern border, potentially threatening our security, pushing people across the Mediterranean and creating a more dangerous and uncertain world for Britain and for all our allies as well as for the people of Libya?” Of course we do not want that, and that is why Britain is and will remain at the forefront of the response to this crisis.

Note that he says we “do not want” Gaddafi to unleash a war on his own people and become a pariah again, and not “we must stop him”. And it was notable that he went on to say:

No one is talking about invasions, boots on the ground and the rest of it.

But you would have to be a hardened cynic, Gary Gibbon, to say that

those close to David Cameron will be hoping that he has done enough to avoid the blame if there is more carnage in Libya.

Trying to prevent Libya becoming a festering pariah state sounds like a foreign policy objective, not just a piece of political positioning.

The interventionists have not yet made a strong enough case for military action from outside, but David Cameron has made it pretty clear where he stands if they do.

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• BlairSupporter

  @ petersimplex – a “deluded fool”, oh wise one? – this was reported in The Telegraph in January 2004, and had been out there since 2002, when he first said it. Intriguing how so many people refuse to accept this.
  _____

  Speaking to BBC’s Panorama a month later, in October 2002, Dr Kelly said the Iraqi dictator did pose an “immediate threat”.

  On WMD, he said: “Even if they’re not actually filled and deployed today, the capability exists to get them filled and deployed within a matter of days and weeks.”

  Dr Kelly was Britain’s foremost expert on Saddam’s biological weapons and said they posed a “real threat” to neighbouring countries.

  “We are talking about Iran and Israel and certainly he can use those weapons against them and you don’t need a vast stockpile to have a tremendous military effect,” he said.

  His remarks, which have not been made public before, were posted on the BBC’s website ahead of a special edition of Panorama on BBC1 at 8.30pm tonight.
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• BlairSupporter

  @ John Brooks – the “blood on their hands” tag doesn’t apply to those who walk by on the other side, it would seem. Only to those who try to DO something.

  I know, I know … you have to wonder where they get their moral compasses.