§ Mr. McFallTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what discussions took place between his Department and the United States Department of Defense concening the decision to attack the withdrawing Iraqi forces at the Al-Muttla gap;
299W(2) what opportunities to surrender were offered to the withdrawing Iraqi forces on the road to Basra while they were in transit;
(3) what discussions took place between the Allied military commanders in the Gulf and the Kuwaiti Government in exile concerning the decision to bomb the withdrawing Iraqi forces at the Al-Muttla gap;
(4) whether he has any information as to whether there were any Kuwaiti captives travelling down the Basra road in the columns of withdrawing Iraqi forces that were subject to Allied air attack in the final days of the Gulf conflict; and if he will make a statement;
(5) what were the nationalities of the Allied aircraft involved in the bombing of withdrawing Iraqi forces at the Al-Muttla gap; and what role RAF planes played in this;
(6) what is his Department's assessment of the number of Iraqi vehicles destroyed at the Al-Muttla gap; and how many of these were specifically military vehicles.
§ Mr. Archie HamiltonAllied attacks during the night of 26–27 February on Iraqi units moving north with their equipment ahead of the allied advance on Kuwait city were part of the military operation to liberate Kuwait and to restore the legitimate Government, and were directed by coalition commanders in the same way as other military actions during the campaign. Fighting was in progress throughout the theatre and it was allied policy to attack Iraqi units which could continue to pose a threat. RAF aircraft were not involved in the attacks between Kuwait city and the Matla ridge as this was outside the area of operations of British forces, and I am therefore not able to comment in detail on the attacks. We have no precise information on the number of vehicles destroyed, although many were military, including a large number of tanks. Civilian vehicles were also being used by the Iraqi military. We have no information on whether any Kuwaiti detainees were in the vehicles. Any civilian casualties are greatly regretted but responsibility for the deaths of any Kuwaitis being taken to Iraq against their will lies with Saddam Hussein.
§ Mr. McFallTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is his Department's assessment as to the means by which Kuwaiti captives were returned to Iraq during the Gulf conflict.
§ Mr. Archie HamiltonWe do not know how and when Kuwaiti detainees were moved to Iraq.
§ Mr. McFallTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether his Department was aware of the locations of Kuwaiti captives held in Iraq between 2 August 1990 and the cessation of hostilities.
300W
Region Married quarters vacant MOD civilian houses vacant Under one year Over one year Under six months Over six months Northern 67 12 1 2 Yorkshire 573 177 — — East Midlands 390 430 — — East Anglia 488 132 — — South East 3,121 795 29 17 South West 1,409 154 12 23 West Midlands 278 63 — — North West 134 — — — Wales 347 71 2 5 Scotland 910 423 31 46 Northern Ireland 510 108 — — Total 8,227 2,365 75 93
§ Mr. Archie HamiltonNo.