Public back Jihadi John drone strike

Jeremy Corbyn has found himself at odds with the British public over the drone strike against Jihadi John.

Emily Hohler
By
published
in Features

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The drone attack is widely supported by the British public

The US drone strike that likely killed Mohammed Emwazi, the sadistic IS beheader known as Jihadi John, is "overwhelmingly supported" by the British public, says Michael Savage in The Times 76% supported last Thursday's strike and only 11% believed the killing was wrong. That puts the majority "at odds" with Jeremy Corbyn, who said "it would have been far better for all of us if he had been held to account in a court of law".

Corbyn's wish was an "unfulfillable fantasy", says Max Hastings in The Mail on Sunday, but he isn't the only one who feels "uneasy about conceding to the government an absolute right to determine whom the armed forces should be allowed to kill". Drones have become the "weapons of choice" for both the Americans and British to conduct killings of terrorists or jihadis identified by intelligence agencies, yet "all manner of unintended and unwelcome consequences will follow when others start playing the same game". Both countries must"establish and publicly declare rules and restraints by whichthey operate".

The other effect of the strike is to generate "that most elusivequality for a military campaign momentum", says Geoff Dyerin the Financial Times. The "attempt by US-backed forcesto retake Sinjar in Iraq, growing pressure on Raqqa in Syria,increased attacks on IS oil infrastructure and the Thursdaydrone strike will not by themselves substantially weaken" IS.But they did give the US an "important boost" as it went intoa weekend of "diplomatic wrangling" over Syria at the G20summit in Turkey.

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While there is "still no sign of agreement" asto the "future of the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad", saysIan Black in The Guardian, the US, Russia, Britain, France, Iranand Saudi Arabia signed a statement "supporting a 1 Januarydeadline for the start of talks between the Syrian governmentand opposition", with hope of a ceasefire by 14 May.

Emily Hohler
Emily Hohler
Politics editor

Emily has worked as a journalist for more than thirty years and was formerly Assistant Editor of MoneyWeek, which she helped launch in 2000. Prior to this, she was Deputy Features Editor of The Times and a Commissioning Editor for The Independent on Sunday and The Daily Telegraph. She has written for most of the national newspapers including The Times, the Daily and Sunday Telegraph, The Evening Standard and The Daily Mail, She interviewed celebrities weekly for The Sunday Telegraph and wrote a regular column for The Evening Standard. As Political Editor of MoneyWeek, Emily has covered subjects from Brexit to the Gaza war.

Aside from her writing, Emily trained as Nutritional Therapist following her son's diagnosis with Type 1 diabetes in 2011 and now works as a practitioner for Nature Doc, offering one-to-one consultations and running workshops in Oxfordshire.

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