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Iraq

My Lords, I am always extraordinarily cautious about commenting on retired military personnel—they always at least purport to know more than the rest of us mortals. I am aware of the report although I have not been able to study it in detail; the Iraq Study Group’s report is the document which we have been studying. The ministerial teams in the FCO and I am quite sure in the MoD and across government will be studying the two reports together and looking at the comparisons. In these circumstances I can well imagine people arguing fiercely about the different perspectives that have emerged. I cannot say that everyone will end up agreeing, and I have no reason to believe that they necessarily will. But until we do the study, I cannot tell you that we will not.