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Defence in the World

There are two issues here. One is the number of multinational forces we have in Iraq, and the number of countries involved—some 27. The other is the specific issue of NATO. No one needs to be a genius to understand that the origins of the intervention in Iraq were other than non-controversial. Many of our NATO partners took a view that was different from ours. Therefore, when they are encouraged to come together and provide support, inside or outside Iraq, for the rebuilding of both a democratic Iraq and the security forces there, that must be done with a degree of persistence but with sensitivity. At present, given all the circumstances, I am happy that all the NATO partners are contributing in what is the best way for them, in the light of the position from which they started. There are, for instance, countries that do not want to have troops on the ground in Iraq, but which are nevertheless helping to train the Iraqi police force, or have made offers of that nature. I think that, in all the circumstances, the international community has responded. I am always trying to urge the institutions, including the United Nations, to play a greater role in assisting the Iraqis themselves. We would never want to reach a point at which, on balance, the presence of our forces was more a problem than a solution. There will always be an element of both in the presence of multinational forces, but we want to be sure that our forces are contributing more to the solution of the security problem than they are contributing to the problem itself.