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Iraq (Basra Incident)

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his kind remarks; I know that his expressions of congratulation and support are genuine. With respect, he may have misunderstood my response to his hon. Friend’s question, although they are genuinely in the same area. I sought not to respond to the question from a basis, effectively, of ignorance, I concede: his hon. Friend asked me to draw a comparison about the risk, and I do not feel able to do so—but what I can say, of course, having spoken to those who on the ground, is that, in the parlance that they use, we appear to be going though a spike of violence. Their assessment of that, however, was reflected in the answer that I gave his hon. Friend, which was that it is an expression of the determination of those who want to stop Iraq becoming a democratic and free country, because they can see the direction of travel that is going on. I am afraid that I must disappoint the hon. Gentleman in response to the peroration of his question, because he invites me into a whole other theatre of conflict, and if the House does not mind, I will restrict myself to questions about the incident and Iraq at this stage and not be drawn into discussing Afghanistan at the moment.