UK Parliament / Open data

Report of the Iraq Inquiry

Proceeding contribution from Ann Clwyd (Labour) in the House of Commons on Thursday, 14 July 2016. It occurred during Debate on Report of the Iraq Inquiry.

That is a very interesting question. I can only speculate, as I am sure that the hon. Gentleman has done. There is evidence that some of them went to Syria, but there are still unanswered questions. The Kurds, in particular, truly believed that there were weapons of mass destruction. I myself never used that argument for intervention, because I did not know the answers. However, I did use the humanitarian argument, because I thought it was important that the world should not turn its face away from the horrors that were going on in Iraq.

I want to make a plea for continuing engagement with Iraq. The needs of the Iraqis are great. I, personally, have continued my association with Iraqis and with the Kurds. I am very well aware of their problems at this time, particularly the continuing threat of ISIS and Daesh. It is not true to say that such people did not exist in Iraq before the war. They existed in Kurdistan, for example, under the name of Ansar al-Islam, and at that time the Americans managed to get them out. We

still need to protect the minorities of Iraq—there are so many of them. We have a responsibility to continue to assist that country in any way we can.

Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
613 cc471-2 
Session
2016-17
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
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