Con Coughlin's Blog

It is good to see the Government has finally got over its hang up about having British boots on the ground in Iraq to help with the campaign against Isil. As I have been saying for weeks now, the Government's obsession with sticking to its "no boots on the ground" mantra is utterly self-defeating, as  [...]

With Isil fighters continuing their relentless assault on the Kurdish-held town of Kobane on Syria's border with Turkey, questions are inevitably being asked about Ankara's true intentions in this increasingly complex conflict. The dominant image of today's coverage of the fighting is of Turkish battle tanks massed on the border ready to repel any attempt [...]

David Cameron hit the nail on the head during his visit to Afghanistan today when he reminded us that the reason for our military intervention was to stop the country being a safe haven for Islamist terrorists to launch attacks on the streets of Britain. Some serious mistakes have, it is true, been made during [...]

I've been saying it for weeks – you can't defeat Isil without putting boots on the ground. And now US General Martin Dempsey, the head of the American Armed Forces, has confirmed what anyone with a reasonable understanding of what is required to defeat Isil knows, that some form of Western ground forces will be [...]

After last year's disastrous Commons vote on bombing the Assad regime in Syria, it is easy to understand David Cameron's hesitancy over joining American air strikes against Isil fanatics in neighbouring Iraq. Having done a lamentable job of trying to persuade MPs – and the public – of the necessity of launching air strikes against [...]

Hallelujah! Barack Obama has finally come up with a strategy for dealing with the Islamist fanatics in Iraq and Syria. Two weeks after the most laid-back president in American history said he had no strategy for dealing with Islamist menace, on the eve of the 9/11 attacks he finally managed to make a statement on [...]

General Sir Peter Wall, who stood down as head of the Army at the end of last week, has provided some sound advice for our political classes in the valedictory interview he gave me shortly before he left his fifth floor MOD office for the last time on Friday. Whatever action the Coalition decides to [...]

Finally, our political classes have finally woken up to reality of what needs to be done to tackle the threat posed by Islamist militants in Syria and Iraq. Having stuck to the ludicrous mantra that, whatever action was authorised against the fanatical supporters of the self-styled Islamic State, there would be "no boots on the [...]

Heartening news from this morning's Cobra meeting on the deteriorating hostage crisis in Iraq, with the Government reported to be giving serious consideration to actually doing something to prevent further atrocities being committed against Western hostages. Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond emerged from the meeting to declare that the Government is to "look at every possible [...]