Ms Anne O'Mahony:

To return to the question about arming the Peshmerga, I have lived and worked through many conflicts around the world and the issue of arming the underdog or arming somebody always arises. We rarely look at what happens when the various protagonists are armed and what ultimately happens with the arms. Often we find, certainly in poorer situations, people get the arms with the best of intentions, but they need to feed their families so they sell the arms to another person. The arms we might intend to be supplied in one direction can end up in the hands of the enemy. A supply of arms is not a solution to the conflict. Getting people around the table, getting the talks back on track and getting people to seek longer-term solutions is a much better approach than sending in more guns that will only be used for more killing, death and destruction.