---

Iraq

I fully concur with the comments that the Secretary of State made about the military. I wish that the whole of the House was fully in agreement in that respect. Perhaps that day will come. I question the Secretary of State on the political commitment that we have. The blueprint at present is for a constitution to try to unite one entire country out of three quite separate groupings. My concern is that in the north we have the Kurds, with the Shi’ites and the Sunnis being separate entities. The Kurds are already operating on their own, and they have their own Prime Minister. Violence is increasing and my worry is that we will end up with Iraq moving towards civil war or, alternatively, British forces and others will be in Iraq for an awfully long time unless more autonomy is given, not only geographically but politically, to the three distinct grouping to which I have referred.