A house divided: Syria, imperialism and the left

Many observers, including many people on the left, accept the Assad regime carried out a chemical weapons attack in the town of Douma on April 7th, killing some 60 people and injuring dozens of others. And many people, with a gut instinct against war, support the idea of the so-called international community responding to such attacks with limited, targeted airstrikes. Others take the view the strikes are part of a Western imperialist agenda and that, in the long run, they will only serve to increase the suffering of the Syrian people. Alex Whisson spoke to Mark Goudkamp of the Sydney Stop the War Coalition to address these vitally important questions. He began by asking exactly why the British, French and American bombing of Syrian government targets ought to be opposed.