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Foreign Affairs and Defence

Obviously, we all condemn the attacks that are going on and the terrible tragedy of the loss of life of entirely innocent civilians who are merely trying to make a living and survive in a difficult set of circumstances. We must consider the effects of the invasion and also the forces that have been unleashed by that invasion that are causing the problem within Iraq. If we go into illegal wars—I believe that this was an illegal war—occupy indefinitely and support a Government who are in part privatising and exporting the country’s wealth, an opposition is created that is uncontrollable and the mayhem that we have seen is the result. There are some hard and serious lessons to be learned. It is an issue that dominated the minds of many people during the general election campaign, who only voted for the Labour party reluctantly. They were strongly opposed to the policies that the Government pursued on Iraq. It is a lesson that must be understood, learned and acted upon by the Government during this Parliament.