Debate on the Address

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for South-West Devon (Mr. Streeter), and I appreciate his remark about me. I apologise to you, Madam Deputy Speaker, and to the House because I was not here for a period this afternoon as I was chairing a Select Committee meeting. Unfortunately, the way in which the business has been organised led to that clash. I was here for the opening speeches, when I was pleased to hear the Foreign Secretary refer to the Commonwealth. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office does not always pay sufficient attention to the Commonwealth. The White Paper on active diplomacy, which sets out the 10 strategic priorities, did not mention the Commonwealth, which was unfortunate, so it was good that the Foreign Secretary referred to it today. The Foreign Secretary also said that there should no question of cutting and running in Iraq, which is absolutely right. Whatever views hon. Members may have about the current situation—there have been welcome references to handing back Maysan province to Iraqi control before Christmas, and there are plans involving Basra in the spring—we must recognise that we need to give a sustained commitment to the democratic institutions and constitution, which were established by the 12 million brave Iraqi people who defied bombs and beheadings in order to vote for democratic change in that society. Two weeks ago, King Abdullah of Jordan spoke to Members of both Houses in a meeting in the Royal Robing Room, and his message was sober and sombre. However, he also told us not to cut and run because of the consequences not only in Iraq, but for Iraq’s neighbours. In that circumstance, Iraq’s neighbours might try to intervene in Iraq in order to influence the outcome of a breakdown in that society, which would potentially result in three different warring areas. In 2003, I voted for the intervention in Iraq. I did so because of my long-standing commitment to my Iraqi Kurdish friends, whom I have known for many years from their living in this country, and to those on the left in Iraq who suffered brutality and repression in Iraq at the hands of Saddam’s regime. The Prime Minister has used the word ““resile”” in a different context, and I will not resile from my support for self-determination and ridding Iraq of a dictator. I must admit that the situation today is far more difficult than I thought it would be. I have visited Basra on three occasions, and on each visit I thought that the situation was worse than it was on the previous occasion. All hon. Members must learn the lessons from the mistakes that have been made in Iraq. One of the mistakes was clear on my first visit in May 2004, when the British military wanted to open Basra airport. They were not allowed to do so because the matter was under the ambit of the collective decision of the coalition provisional authority, which took the view that it would be politically dangerous to open up the situation in Basra in advance of that in Baghdad. In retrospect, that was one of the most damaging decisions taken, because Basra, which is a port and provides access to the rest of the world, could achieve normal economic development for a society that operated—as it still does to a large extent—as a state-controlled system with almost no private enterprise. If Basra had been opened up in that way, it might have led to other highly beneficial economic developments.