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Iraq and the Middle East

I am sure that my right hon. Friend would agree that there are many heroes in Iraq, including the people of Iraq themselves. This week, we had a visit from a group of 11 representatives of teachers’ unions from Iraq. One of them was the wife of a man who had been executed by the regime, and another was a schools inspector who had spent four years on death row under the old regime. Whatever the leader of the Liberal Democrats says—I hope that he will go to Iraq soon, because unlike many of us, he has never been there, as far as I know—one of the teachers said:"““We are optimistic that all these things will be ended within one year, two years, three years. Then we are expecting a new life, a better life.””" Another teacher, Mohammed Saeed Hatem, said that the situation today"““was still better than it was. A bloody dictatorship has gone.””" We should not forget that.