As the war continues to escalate in Syria, WORLDbytes takes to the streets of London to find out what the public make of the conflict; government policy and Western intervention. This snapshot of public opinion turns the tables on one area government and media avoid testing at the polls. As one astute gentleman points out “When have the British public ever been consulted on foreign policy?” Despite bellicose government gestures declaring arms for the rebels, few of the interviewees were positive about intervention and even fewer had swallowed Obama’s red line on chemical weapons. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the lack of political leadership, cynicism however is evident from ideas of ulterior motives and interests to ‘they won’t listen to us anyway’. That said, the astute observations gleaned from testing opinions as this programme so effectively does, suggests everything is to be gained from serious debate and not allowing the government a free hand to make Syria more of a bloody mess.
