§ Mr. Bill Wiggin (Leominster)If he will make a statement on the recent attack on the Red Cross in Iraq. [137396]
§ 3. Mr. David Stewart (Inverness, East, Nairn and Lochaber)If he will make a statement on his assessment of the future role of aid agencies in Iraq. [137397]
§ 6. Mr. Graham Allen (Nottingham, North)If he will make a statement on the situation in Iraq. [137400]
§ The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr. Jack Straw)Life in many parts of Iraq is better than it was before military action began. Power, water and sewerage have been restored. Schools, universities and hospitals are in operation. A new currency has been introduced. Economic activity is rising, as is oil production. Not least, there are now remarkably free and active media, where before information was tightly controlled by the Saddam regime. Opinion polls taken in Iraq show consistently high levels of support for the removal of Saddam by the coalition.
I am the first to accept, however, that the security situation in parts of Iraq, especially in Baghdad and the so-called Sunni triangle, remains unsatisfactory. Terrorist attacks have led to the withdrawal of the international staff of aid agencies and non-governmental organisations. This morning, I spoke to Dr. Jacob Kellenberger, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, who assured me that the closure of the Red Cross offices in Baghdad and Basra was on a temporary basis and that it was being kept under close review. Many agencies continue to operate with local staff, and every effort is being made, not least by the coalition, to ensure that aid gets through.
§ Mr. WigginThe House will be aware that this is the first time that the Red Cross has been directly attacked. Is it true that the person suspected of co-ordinating those attacks is Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, Saddam Hussein's No. 2? Will there be an increase in the amount of intelligence available to find out about that?
§ Mr. StrawThe hon. Gentleman is right to say that this is the first time, so far as I know, that ICRC offices anywhere have been attacked. The ICRC has had an extremely fine record of working for people in a number of conflict situations. As Dr. Kellenberger told me this morning, it is always first in, last out, and it has an exceptional reputation for integrity and independence from the occupying powers, as is required of it given its responsibilities to secure the enforcement of the Geneva conventions.
As for Mr. al-Douri, I, too, have seen those reports, but I can offer no further comment on them. Of course, we accept that part of the effort to improve the security situation, along with direct military action and an 155 improvement in the overall environment in which the majority of Iraqis work and live, is an improvement in intelligence.
§ Mr. StewartWill my right hon. Friend join me in congratulating the aid agencies on the work that they carry out in Iraq in very difficult circumstances, as I experienced a few weeks ago? What contingency plans does he have to ensure that humanitarian aid continues to be delivered to the Iraqi people?
§ Mr. StrawI do indeed know of my hon. Friend's experience in Basra as a member of the parliamentary forces partnership arrangement. I am extremely grateful to him for spending three days in a tent in Basra, experiencing life with the military there. We are working very hard indeed through the coalition and now increasingly through the civilian Government, under the governing council and the Iraqi ministries, to ensure that aid gets through. The proof of that is that so much of life is now much better, not just than it was in the immediate aftermath of the military action but well before it, not least as a result of the better partnership between the coalition authorities and the aid agencies, many of which continue to use their local staff.
§ Mr. AllenThe Foreign Secretary will know better than anyone that there was some dispute over the legal basis of the invasion of Iraq, but I know that he takes second place to no one in his desire to rebuild both the global coalition against terrorism and the United Nations. Can he tell the House whether—in case we were ever to take on a murdering butcher in future—he is working on restoring and strengthening the legal basis on which the UN and, indeed, a coalition of nations might act?
§ Mr. StrawI am grateful to my hon. Friend for what he says and the manner in which he says it. The legal argument about whether military action was justified in respect of Iraq emphasised the fact that the legal basis for military action contained in the UN charter, which was agreed just after the last world war, is no longer fully adequate to cope with today's threats. It copes very well with the traditional threats of action being taken by one sovereign nation against another, but it no longer copes with the new set of threats from rogue and/or failing states, terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. How exactly we resolve that is difficult, but it is a matter to which we are applying ourselves, to which the United States is applying itself and to which the European Union in its important draft security strategy, to which we have contributed, is also applying itself, and I undertake to keep the House informed of developments.
§ Mr. Menzies Campbell (North-East Fife)Is it not a simple truth that the efforts to bring about the reconstruction of Iraq and to establish democracy there simply cannot be allowed to fail? Is it not equally true that the achievement of those objectives is likely to take a much higher degree of commitment than was first envisaged? Do not those facts require the British 156 Government to be entirely honest with the British people about how long that may take and how much it may cost?
§ Mr. StrawWe are not going to allow our efforts to fail. We are absolutely determined about that, and it is interesting that the whole international community is of the same opinion, whatever view may have been taken about the military action in the first place. We have been as explicit as we can with the British public, as we are required to be and as we must be, about the long-term prospects. The truth is that I cannot say how long we will have to stay in Iraq, any more than anyone could have said how long we would be in Kosovo or Bosnia. But I can say that we will be there until the job is completed. I hope very much that, in a short while, we will be there at the invitation of a sovereign Iraqi Administration.
§ Tony Baldry (Banbury)When the reconstruction plans for Iraq were promulgated, it was assumed that much of the cost of reconstruction would come from Iraq's own oil. Because of the disruption, that is not happening, and consequently donors must give more money and the Department for International Development's budget has been raided to the tune of £100 million, which will mean a withdrawal of UK bilateral development aid to most of Latin America, central Asia and elsewhere. When does the Foreign Secretary anticipate that Iraq will be able to start paying something towards its own reconstruction costs?
§ Mr. StrawI am afraid that I do not accept the premise of the hon. Gentleman's question. All the oil revenues are paid into the Iraqi development fund, which, under resolution 1483, is explicitly for the benefit of the Iraqis and nobody else. It was always anticipated that in addition to the revenues that the Iraqis might be able to generate, because of the huge damage done to the infrastructure of Iraq and the squandering of its wealth, a substantial international aid effort would be required, including contributions from the United Kingdom. Nor do I accept for a second that DFID's funds have been raided to pay for reconstruction, which is now a very high priority. I say gently to the hon. Gentleman that we have more than doubled our aid programme overall in the last six years, from the shadow of what it should have been when we came to office. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Development has made it very clear that 90 per cent. of the funds of DFID, which are related to poverty alleviation, remain entirely untouched.
§ Mr. Tam Dalyell (Linlithgow)Is it not fundamental, as was recognised at Nuremberg in 1945, that whatever crimes men may or may not have committed, they are entitled to a trial? Why has not a trial started of Tariq Aziz and others? In the case of Tariq Aziz, is it on account of his medical condition?
§ Mr. StrawI accept the basis of my hon. Friend's point that it is fundamental that when there is evidence against people, they must be subject to proceedings, and steps are being taken to establish appropriate tribunals within Iraq.
§ Mr. Michael Ancram (Devizes)We share the general concern at the deteriorating security situation in Iraq. Does the Foreign Secretary share the view of his Government representative Sir Jeremy Greenstock that the current security threat emanates largely from elements originating from outside Iraq, and can he identify those elements? In the light of what he had to say about intelligence earlier, does he also share United States administrator Paul Bremer's analysis in The Times yesterday that the terrorist attacks will
be more of a problem in the months ahead unless the intelligence gets better"?What steps is he taking to address this apparent intelligence deficit?
§ Mr. StrawMay I repeat the congratulations to the right hon. Gentleman on his survival in the shadow Cabinet, a matter on which I am something of an expert? May I also say that I noticed in The Daily Telegraph that the new team has been described as "lean and mean"? Although I have great admiration for the right hon. Gentleman's many sterling qualities, lean and mean is not the first description that comes to mind. He asked me two specific questions. First, yes, I do agree with Sir Jeremy Greenstock. We cannot tell for certain, and if we knew for certain, dealing with the terrorists would be that much easier. We believe, however, that terrorist actions are, in turns, taken either by remnants of the Saddam regime, by outside terrorists or by a mix of both. Ambassador Bremer was entirely correct to say that terrorism will become more of a problem unless intelligence is improved, and a considerable effort is now being made by the coalition and coalition forces to do just that.
§ 4. Mr. Tom Clarke (Coatbridge and Chryston)What the Government's policy is in respect of the Kurdish population in northern Iraq and other parts of the region. [137398]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr. Bill Rammell)Relationships between the Kurdish population in the north and other parts of the region are a matter for the Iraqis. Representatives of the Government and the coalition provisional authority meet regularly with a wide variety of political groups in Iraq, including representatives of the Kurdish population, to hear their views. We are fully committed to maintaining relationships with the Kurdish population throughout Iraq.
§ Mr. ClarkeIs my hon. Friend in a position to give the Government's response to the unanimous decision of the Kurdish National Assembly to assert that in the new Iraq, Iraqi Kurdistan should be regarded as a single 158 federal region embracing Kirkuk and Mosul, and that it should be protected against both threats and interference from any neighbouring states?
§ Mr. RammellWe have made it clear from the beginning of the process that we believe that the territorial integrity of Iraq should be protected. Nevertheless, we try to uphold the human rights of all Iraqis, including the Kurds. The appointment of my hon. Friend the Member for Cynon Valley (Ann Clwyd) as the Prime Minister's special envoy on human rights in Iraq has helped significantly in that regard.
§ Sir Patrick Cormack (South Staffordshire)As the Prime Minister made plain last night in his speech at Guildhall, our Government are working in close cooperation with the American Government on all aspects in Iraq. In view of that, will the Minister confirm that when President Bush is here next week, he will address both Houses of Parliament, as Presidents Clinton and Reagan did, and as our Prime Minister addressed Congress?
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. That is far too wide.
§ Mr. Harry Barnes (North-East Derbyshire)Is not an important area in which the Kurds could work together with others in Iraq—Shi'a, Sunni, Turkomen, Assyrians, Christians and Jews—the federal trade union movement that is developing quickly in Iraq, in which people work together as teachers, railwaymen and oil workers? What is being done to facilitate the newly emerging movement, which is in desperate need of such facilitation?
§ Mr. RammellI thank my hon. Friend for that question because he has long argued that a way to confront some of the historical divisions that exist is through the legitimate pursuit of trade union activity. In that regard, I am pleased that we in the Foreign Office are considering all that we can do to help. Indeed, my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary met the TUC general secretary and other leading trade unionists last week to discuss that very issue.
§ Mr. Elfyn Llwyd (Meirionnydd Nant Conwy)Going back to the question asked by the right hon. Member for Coatbridge and Chryston (Mr. Clarke), may I suggest to the Minister that now is the time for the occupying powers to call together a true international convention to decide what is to happen to the Kurdish people in the north of Iraq? Many of us were concerned about the plight of those people prior to and during the conflict. Thankfully, things are not as bad as we feared, but it is time to regularise the position, and for the self-determination of those people to be recognised by the international community rather than the occupying forces.
§ Mr. RammellI welcome the fact that the hon. Gentleman acknowledges that improvements are being made in Iraq and I understand his concerns about the position of the Kurds. We take that up at every opportunity with all our partners in Iraq and the Iraqi governing council. However, it is critical that we do not impose solutions from the outside on the constitutional 159 structure that Iraq and the Iraqi people should eventually agree for themselves. That will be critical, but the Iraqis must take the process forward.