Your original contention Christmas was that Syrian civilians were being "slaughtered" by British weapons in Homs.

Simple fact of the matter is that they are not being "slaughtered" by British weapons, they are not even being "slaughtered" by British ammunition.

They are being "slaughtered" by Russian and Chinese weapons and ammunition and it is those two countries who ARE selling Assad's regime the means to butcher his own people, and it is those two countries who are currently blocking any international attempt to stop the slaughter.

Keen on trivia are you Christmas? Well here is a "little" statistic for you - For every 60 people toddling around this earth there is 1 AK-47 Assault rifle - Now tell me who makes them - certainly not the British.

"The AK series of weapons have been produced in greater numbers than any other firearm and have been used in conflicts all over the world."

Thought this bit was absolutely priceless:

"Libyan Government forces and rebels were killing each other with weapons from the same source."

A number of sources actually Jim-Lad and again mostly Russian (AK-47's, RPG-7's seem to be the weapons of choice in almost every trouble spot on the planet)

The next is classic "Jim Carroll Bullshit:

"indicating that Britain is not particularly proud of who it sells arms to (certainly not as proud as the two boyos here who have expended a fair amoung to energy defending the shipment and claiming it to be 'harmless')."

So far in the entire length of this thread I have seen not one single instance of ANYONE:

a) Defending the shipment OR b) claiming that it was harmless

But there again Jim I guess it is just the way you read things and interpret them. I can recall on the subject of the separation of Northern Ireland you claimed to know better what one of the participants at the talks said than that person himself.

Britain third in the sale of arms in the world? I think it is Fifth behind the USA; Russia; Germany & France. China is sixth, but in the top six you have ALL permanent members of the UN Security Council. But that is not the way Christmas presents it:

BRITAN SELLS ARMS TO REGIMES THAT KILL AND TORTURE THEIR OWN PEOPLE -AND WILL CONTINUE TO DO SO WHILE APPEASERS OF SUCH BEHAVIOUR LIE AND JUSTIFY TO COVER THE FACTS UP

Truth is lots of countries who manufacture arms do that Christmas (1,135 manufacturers in 98 countries around the world as a matter of fact), what appeasers? In this particular instance that you referred to the British Government revoked the export licence. What cover up?

First death in Syria occurred on 6th May 2011 and there has been a mandatory EU arms embargo (2011/273/CFSP) on sales to Syria since 9th May 2011.

So what was your contention again Christmas:

"That Syrian civilians were currently (February 2012) being "slaughtered" by British weapons in Homs."

Apologies but I must ask the obvious question - Just HOW exactly are they managing to do that?