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Armed Forces Bill

I preface my brief intervention by saying how much I and, I suspect, many of my colleagues have appreciated the care with which the noble Lord, Lord Grayson, has kept us in touch with the process of this Bill and has made certain that we were briefed during the various movements on it. It is highly appreciated and we are very grateful. I support what the noble Lord, Lord Kingsland, said. As the nature of operations changes into what General Sir Rupert Smith described in his book as ““a war amongst the people””, it is ever more important that every member of our Armed Forces committed to such conflicts is absolutely crystal clear on what are the rules of engagement before they are committed to those operations. That means that those rules of engagement must have been considered and worked out in advance by the Secretary of State and the chain of command downwards to include every individual. I suspect that some of the problems in Iraq have arisen because those rules of engagement were not absolutely crystal clear in the minds of everyone concerned. Therefore, it makes sense that the requirement to do that should be in statute so that it cannot be fudged before people are launched. I also support the intent behind AmendmentNo. 62 because one type of operation on which we are embarked—United Nations operations—is one in which there is the most complicated preparation of rules of engagement, which will differ in each operation and will apply to contingents from a large number of different forces. Therefore, it is essential, where we are involved with forces from other nations, that those compromises are reached—again, before we go on operations. It is essential, although this is not in the nature of the Bill but in the reform of the United Nations, that we set up machinery to make certain that the rules of engagement of all those committed to United Nations operations are sorted out in the same way as they should be for national operations. That remains paramount. I support Amendment No. 62A, tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Campbell of Alloway, because it seems to me to be part of the glue that ties the three amendments together. I therefore support the idea that the three should be taken and considered in great detail before it is decided whether to include them.