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Iraq

My Lords, does the Minister recognise that it is precisely because we care for our Armed Forces and support them to the hilt that we express our concerns, on their behalf as much as anybody else’s? I very much regret the comment of the noble Lord, Lord Foulkes, which was entirely contrary to the spirit of your Lordships’ House and the recognition of the challenges facing our Armed Forces. There is no suggestion that the Prime Minister should not speak to President Bush. It is vitally important that he does. We are having this Statement today because of an urgent Question tabled by the shadow Foreign Secretary in another place suggesting that it might be a good idea if the Prime Minister spoke to Parliament as well as to President Bush. Is not the striking feature of the Iraq Study Group the lengths to which it went to construct a group with bipartisan support, drawing on the widest possible range of opinion in the United States? A serious crisis faces our nation. Given the situation of our forces in Iraq and our country’s reputation in the Middle East as a result of the disastrous mishandling of the Iraq operation, do the Government not think it wise to draw on all strands of opinion in this country? Should they not try to construct genuine national support for a strategy so that our forces can believe they have the backing of Parliament and the people?