Oral question asked in the House of Commons, by Nick Harvey (Liberal Democrat). It was answered on Monday, 16 July 2007 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Iraq

Question: What does the Secretary of State make of the votes on withdrawal in both Houses of the American Congress? Is it still our policy that security will be the only consideration that determines the timetable for withdrawal? Given that this year is shaping up to be the bloodiest since 2003, is there not a risk that that could be a very long way off, and that the militias and insurgents will be given a say over the timetable? What does the Secretary of State make of the Iraq Commission report, and what does he think our role will be after we hand over Basra province? Is not the best idea the commission’s suggestion that we concentrate on training and advice, and set a date for an end to our active deployment?

Answer: The hon. Gentleman invites me to intervene in domestic American politics and respond to decisions made in Congress. I do not intend to do that. Obviously such decisions are relevant to us, but our strategy remains the same. It cannot properly be defined as a strategy dependent solely on security; it is far from being that. I do not want to repeat my last answer in detail, but it described the path that we have taken. Our strategy does not hang on the insurgents and on determination of the timetable. There has been an increase in the number of our casualties, but that is a function of the transition that we are undergoing. On almost every occasion we have deployed troops abroad, our casualty rate has risen when we have sought to emerge from combat and reduce the strength of our forces during a period of transition. In this instance, that is a function of a number of elements, not least the fact that the militia deployed in Basra city, supported by the Iranians, are determined to take the credit for driving us out of that city. I think that people who understand how insurgencies work would understand that that is the case. It is not the whole explanation for our casualty rate, but it is part of the explanation and people need to understand it.

Secondary information