The Syria debate shows MPs have learned the lessons of war | Martin Kettle

Westminster has shown it is getting better at weighing up the cases for and against intervention

In the ancient legend, Prometheus is chained to a rock, where his liver is pecked out by an eagle every day – only to regenerate each night, ready to be eaten once again. As British politics wrestles again with whether to commit the military to another post-9/11 conflict, it is easy to get the feeling that a collective Promethean agony is being repeatedly re-enacted here too. Look more carefully, however, and something may be changing for the better.

True, the questions that David Cameron posed yesterday over Syria in the Commons have an extremely familiar feel: Why? Why us? Why now? Is it legal? Will it work? What happens next? Those were exactly the same questions, almost word for word, that Tony Blair faced over Iraq in 2003.

Most of them are not forever stuck in 2003. They are being pragmatic, by recognising the limits of UK military power

Related: Defence review: Cameron to announce new UK reconnaissance planes

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