'Nothing Token' About Britain's Iraq Mission
Updated: 10:31pm UK, Sunday 28 September 2014
Defence Secretary Michael Fallon has rejected claims Britain's role in the fight against Islamic State (IS) is a "token" gesture, as he confirmed RAF Tornados are now flying daily over northern Iraq.
He told Sky's Murnaghan programme the United States welcomes the contribution of six aircraft to the mission.
Mr Fallon said: "There's nothing token about this. On the contrary, I spoke to the American Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel immediately after the vote and he welcomed the contribution that we're now able to make.
"They need our help, not simply with the Tornados, which are now flying daily from Cyprus, but also from the surveyance aircraft that we have overhead and very sophisticated surveyance and intelligence to add to the operations of Iraqi and Kurdish forces."
His comments come after Richard Williams, a former commanding officer of the SAS who served in Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan, wrote in the Independent on Sunday the deployment of RAF bombers was a "military sugar rush" that "risks looking fearful and half-cocked".
Lieutenant Colonel Williams said the sending in of RAF bombers had "taken on a military and political significance out of all proportion to their real military value".
Lord Richards of Herstmonceux, a former head of the UK military who stepped down as chief of the defence staff last year, also told The Sunday Times that a campaign involving ground troops would be needed to crush IS.
The RAF carried out two sorties over Iraq on Saturday, followed by a third mission on Sunday, after Parliament cleared the way for airstrikes on IS militants in a vote on Friday.
The jets, which fly in pairs, returned to their base at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus at the end of their hours-long missions with their weapons payload intact.
Sky's Tom Parmenter, who is at the base, says that two Tornados flying on Sunday took off from the base at midday.
Prime Minister David Cameron has said he also wants to make the case for targeting Syria.
In an interview with the Sunday Times, the Prime Minister revealed he would argue that targeting Syria is both legal and appropriate.
"There are complications but there aren't legal difficulties," he said.
Mr Cameron said he would respond to the challenge thrown down by Ed Miliband to seek a UN resolution supporting attacks in Syria, if only to show that his request is impossible.
"We have to demonstrate to people that we'd like a UN security council resolution but it's very difficult to get one and to demonstrate that what we propose is legal. Attempts have been made but there's the existence of a Russian veto."
Ministers had cautioned not to expect a campaign of "shock and awe" and that after weeks of US airstrikes in the area it could take time to identify new targets.
Mr Cameron insisted the involvement of RAF combat aircraft showed Britain was there to "play our part" in the international coalition being assembled against IS.
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