Armed Forces Bill

As my hon. Friend says from a sedentary position, that could easily be the Americans in many cases. I am happy if the Minister wants to include in legislation the definition that anybody who shoots at our forces is the enemy. That is not in the legislation at the moment. If we are going to go to war and put such burdens on people, we should be explicit about whom the enemy is in any given circumstances. Subsection (3)(b) refers to"““operations outside the British Islands for the protection of life or property””." Does that cover Iraqi lives and property? Are they covered, or are they usefully ignored? Are we talking only about United Kingdom lives and property, or not? I am waiting for the Minister to intervene on that. After all, the Government claim that we are there on a legal basis. They claim that we are there according to the will of the United Nations, protecting Iraqi lives and property, although the property has been ripped off to an enormous degree and more than 100,000 lives have been lost. It is interesting that the Minister remains silent on that. That in itself could give people to ask, as a defence, what lives or property they were actually defending. The third paragraph, which was referred to by my hon. Friend the Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell), is the most objectionable in my view. It refers to"““military occupation of a foreign country or territory””." It is important to establish whether that occupation is legal or illegal. If it is legal and properly authorised, I think that courts martial and sentences should follow; if it is illegal, that represents a solid defence, and that people who advance that defence should not be punished in the excessive way proposed by the Bill.