Iraq: Future Strategic Relationship

They were doing a lot more than that, by the way. The situation was set up by Bush and Rumsfeld and we went along with it, in a privatised war in some ways—I will say more about that—to make profits and fill the pockets of those American gangsters. There are still unanswered questions about Britain's role in Amarah, about Camp Breadbasket and about complicity in the air strikes. In January last year, 40,000 lb of explosives were dropped on southern Iraq in one day, with a rate of four bombings a day. Then there was the Hercules crash. Questions have been asked about the machinery being brought in. I agree with those asking such questions, but they hide a deeper question: what were those special forces troops who died doing? There had been an election, and it is believed that they had ballot boxes, but they were well outside their area. Just what were they doing? There should be an answer to that. Then there is the nest of vipers—the police station. Let me read from the latest book of Tony Benn's diaries, ““More Time for Politics””. This is from the entry for Tuesday 20 September 2005:"““The news today, and there was a bit about it last night, is this absolutely sensational story of two SAS officers who were sent in to Basra, one dressed as a Muslim cleric, the other as a civilian, and they were arrested by the Iraqi police and put in prison. This news reached the British Government, or the military in Basra, so they sent tanks and a helicopter, and one of the tanks drove straight into the prison wall, broke it open, 150 prisoners escaped, and the Iraqis then handed over these two British prisoners. This led to a huge riot outside the prison. The tanks were set on fire with petrol bombs, and the people inside escaped with their lives. The Government simply said they were glad to rescue people. They didn't say what they were doing. But it told you that the Iraqi police now hate the British, and they're supposed to have been set up by the British to deal with the insurgency. So it's just an example.””" I raised the issue in the House at the time. The then Defence Secretary described those involved as murderous, saying:"““I have not yet heard anybody describe that particular unit as an 'alleged' murder squad. I have never seen the adjective 'alleged' used about that by anybody,””" so he effectively said that the Iraqi police were murderers. Then he said: ““The fact that they””—the British Army—"““physically destroyed that police station was iconic to the people of Basra, many of whom celebrated the fact that that nest of vipers had been removed.””—[Official Report, 22 January 2007; Vol. 455, c. 1138.]" I have asked several questions about that, but let me take a short cut and get to the most recent one. The current Defence Secretary said that it was too difficult"““to be certain of the identity and background of individuals detained,””" that"““there are no reasons to believe that there were outstanding arrest warrants against any of””" them and that"““they were released because of a judgment that they no longer represented an imperative security threat.””—[Official Report, 26 November 2008; Vol. 483, c. 1551W.]" So much for a nest of vipers—those people were actually the police. I want to turn to Operation Charge of the Knights, because it has been claimed, including by the hon. Member for Gravesham (Mr. Holloway), who spoke before me, that it was a case of UK cowardice—[Interruption]—or rather incompetence. I think that that is a false allegation.