Hilary Benn, Britain's Shadow Foreign Secretary, Stuns House with Powerful Speech in Support of Syrian Airstrikes

Hilary Benn has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Leeds Central since a 1999 by-election, and has served as Shadow Foreign Secretary since May 2015.  Tonight he gave a powerful speech, in the House of Commons in which he defied his own party's leader, urging the British Parliament to support airstrikes in Syria.  Described by his opposite number as "one of the truly great speeches in the house of Commons", Benn's speech, which follows below, drew prolonged cheers and applause from all sides.

The House of Commons voted by 397 to 223, including 66 Labor Members, in favor of extending RAF action across the border from Iraq.

The Forever War

By Patrick J. Buchanan

The strategy that President Obama laid out Wednesday night to “degrade and ultimately destroy the terrorist group known as ISIL,” is incoherent, inconsistent and, ultimately, non-credible.

A year ago, Obama and John Kerry were straining at the leash to launch air strikes on Syrian President Bashar Assad for his alleged use of chemical weapons in “killing his own people.”

But when Americans rose as one to demand that we stay out of Syria, Obama hastily erased his “red line” and announced a new policy of not getting involved in “somebody else’s civil war.”