Today, President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron proclaimed their continued military ties, stating that they ensure security. [See video.]

AirWars.org reports that over the last 624 days, the U.S., U.K. and their partners have launched 11,773 strikes in Syria and Iraq with a minimum of 1,113 civilians likely killed and a total of 41,697 bombs and missiles dropped.

MAIREAD MAGUIRE, mairead at peacepeople.com
Nobel Peace Laureate Maguire is founder of Peace People and has done peace work based in Northern Ireland for decades. She recently attended a conference opposing “Just War” theory at the Vatican. In an article just after the conference, she wrote: “I believe the misguided age of ‘blessing wars, militarism and killing’ must end. The responsibility lies with Pope Francis and all religious/spiritual leaders to be true shepherds of peace…”

She has lead three peace delegations to Syria in recent years and wrote a piece earlier this year, “We Must Demand a Nonviolent Solution to War and Violence in Syria,” after the most recent delegation. She wrote: “Proxy wars are something they [Syrians] thought only happened in other countries. But now, Syria, too, has been turned into a war-ground in the geo-political landscape controlled by the western global elite and their allies in the Middle East. …

“If the U.K. government, the United States, and the European Union wish to truly help the Syrian people, they should immediately lift the sanctions which are causing great hardship to the Syrian people and try every nonviolent means to end the war. …

“If the situation is not stabilized in Syria and the Middle East, there will be few Christians left. The overall Middle East has witnessed the tragic and virtual disappearance of Judaism, and this tragedy is now happening at an alarming rate to Christians.”