To ask the Solicitor-General pursuant to his answer of 5 December 2005, Official Report, column 964W, on human rights (Iraq), whether Mr. Phil Shiner has provided evidence of potential criminal offences to the prosecuting authorities; and if he will place in the Library the correspondence between Mr. Phil Shiner and...

To ask the Solicitor-General pursuant to his answer of 5 December 2005, Official Report, column 964W, on human rights (Iraq), whether Mr. Phil Shiner has provided evidence of potential criminal offences to the prosecuting authorities; and if he will place in the Library the correspondence between Mr. Phil Shiner and...

We disagree on the invasion, but I am sure that we agree on its antecedents. I have been seriously underwhelmed by the response of most people in this country to the Volker report. That is an important document, which has huge implications across the world for those who were bathing...

We disagree on the invasion, but I am sure that we agree on its antecedents. I have been seriously underwhelmed by the response of most people in this country to the Volker report. That is an important document, which has huge implications across the world for those who were bathing...

Thank you, Sir Nicholas. May I begin by wishing you and all the staff of the House a happy Christmas and peaceful and prosperous new year? I should like to refer to the report that was published in March just before the general election. It was the last report published...

Thank you, Sir Nicholas. May I begin by wishing you and all the staff of the House a happy Christmas and peaceful and prosperous new year? I should like to refer to the report that was published in March just before the general election. It was the last report published...

I thank the hon. Gentleman for giving way on this important and topical issue. Will he comment on the statement made by the Prime Minister in the Chamber about paragraph 97 of the report, giving details of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's view of extraordinary rendition, as compared to the...

I thank the hon. Gentleman for giving way on this important and topical issue. Will he comment on the statement made by the Prime Minister in the Chamber about paragraph 97 of the report, giving details of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's view of extraordinary rendition, as compared to the...

: I have no further information than the hon. Gentleman about what was said in the House. All that I would say is that I have no evidence to challenge the Prime Minister's assertion that this country is not engaged in torture, and condemns it. The question is what is...

: I have no further information than the hon. Gentleman about what was said in the House. All that I would say is that I have no evidence to challenge the Prime Minister's assertion that this country is not engaged in torture, and condemns it. The question is what is...

In paragraph 27 of the report, the Select Committee makes clear its conclusion when it states:"““Iraq is providing a dangerous training ground for terrorists similar to that previously provided by Afghanistan.””" Does the hon. Gentleman believe that Her Majesty's Government are doing enough to dissuade Iranian and Syrian involvement in...

In paragraph 27 of the report, the Select Committee makes clear its conclusion when it states:"““Iraq is providing a dangerous training ground for terrorists similar to that previously provided by Afghanistan.””" Does the hon. Gentleman believe that Her Majesty's Government are doing enough to dissuade Iranian and Syrian involvement in...

: I was about to say that opposition to stability and the democratic processes in Iraq comes not only from elements of the former Ba'athist regime. I have seen the work that our forces have been doing in the south of Iraq, and I believe that our Government have been...

: I was about to say that opposition to stability and the democratic processes in Iraq comes not only from elements of the former Ba'athist regime. I have seen the work that our forces have been doing in the south of Iraq, and I believe that our Government have been...

I will take a slightly different perspective to that which has developed so far by asking people to look back at some historical parallels and to the problems of propaganda and counter-propaganda in war. I mean to look back a long way to the autumn of 1914 when a photograph...

I will take a slightly different perspective to that which has developed so far by asking people to look back at some historical parallels and to the problems of propaganda and counter-propaganda in war. I mean to look back a long way to the autumn of 1914 when a photograph...

I welcome this opportunity to speak in the debate. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee on opening the debate. He was not present when we drafted the report, which must have made what is already a difficult task more difficult. All my colleagues on...

I welcome this opportunity to speak in the debate. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee on opening the debate. He was not present when we drafted the report, which must have made what is already a difficult task more difficult. All my colleagues on...

: Historical analogies are always debatable because, by definition, they are not identical to the situation that we face today. However, I do not believe that either of the factors that the hon. Member for Ilford, South (Mike Gapes) mentioned reflects on the principal point that the communist insurgents in...

: Historical analogies are always debatable because, by definition, they are not identical to the situation that we face today. However, I do not believe that either of the factors that the hon. Member for Ilford, South (Mike Gapes) mentioned reflects on the principal point that the communist insurgents in...

: Is there not a big difference between the situation in Iraq—or even that in Vietnam—and that which existed in Malaya? Malaya was a colony at the time, not an independent state, and it did not have a democratic process or a putative sovereign Government that was going to have...

: Is there not a big difference between the situation in Iraq—or even that in Vietnam—and that which existed in Malaya? Malaya was a colony at the time, not an independent state, and it did not have a democratic process or a putative sovereign Government that was going to have...

Like the hon. Member for Ilford, South (Mike Gapes), I welcome the opportunity to debate the report, which I hope the House found helpful. We members of the Committee believe that it is an important and significant report, which we published as Parliament was about to be dissolved for the...

Like the hon. Member for Ilford, South (Mike Gapes), I welcome the opportunity to debate the report, which I hope the House found helpful. We members of the Committee believe that it is an important and significant report, which we published as Parliament was about to be dissolved for the...

: No. I am short of time, and I wish to say something about Israel, the west bank and Gaza before I conclude. I am conscious that many hon. Members wish to speak so I do not wish to take any more interventions at the moment. Last week, some Foreign...

: No. I am short of time, and I wish to say something about Israel, the west bank and Gaza before I conclude. I am conscious that many hon. Members wish to speak so I do not wish to take any more interventions at the moment. Last week, some Foreign...

I shall confine my remarks to the situation in Iraq, which is obviously a subject of much comment in the Foreign Affairs Committee report and central to the debate about the war against terrorism. I say immediately in that context that we are all very concerned about the four hostages...

I shall confine my remarks to the situation in Iraq, which is obviously a subject of much comment in the Foreign Affairs Committee report and central to the debate about the war against terrorism. I say immediately in that context that we are all very concerned about the four hostages...

I am pleased to follow my two Foreign Affairs Committee colleagues. Like them, I want to focus on the middle east, because the failure to find a lasting and just solution in that region affects the security of us all. The perpetrators of every atrocity since 9/11 have cited the...

I am pleased to follow my two Foreign Affairs Committee colleagues. Like them, I want to focus on the middle east, because the failure to find a lasting and just solution in that region affects the security of us all. The perpetrators of every atrocity since 9/11 have cited the...

: Will my hon. Friend give way on that point?

: Will my hon. Friend give way on that point?

: We have no plans to do so, but I will bear my hon. Friend's suggestion in mind. I will discuss that matter with my colleagues in due course. Syria is another factor in the instability of Iraq. Syria is not just associated with incursions by terrorists and insurrectionists who...

: We have no plans to do so, but I will bear my hon. Friend's suggestion in mind. I will discuss that matter with my colleagues in due course. Syria is another factor in the instability of Iraq. Syria is not just associated with incursions by terrorists and insurrectionists who...

: I am sure that the hon. Gentleman did not mean to say ““young Arabs””, because the greater part of the Muslim population in this country is from south Asia. Members of that community take great exception to being lumped into one homogenous group; they are not Arabs.

: I am sure that the hon. Gentleman did not mean to say ““young Arabs””, because the greater part of the Muslim population in this country is from south Asia. Members of that community take great exception to being lumped into one homogenous group; they are not Arabs.

I start by bringing our attention back to the Select Committee report. A lot hinges on the first sentence of the summary, which states:"““We recommend that in its response to this Report the Government make a statement of how it ensures that it pursues its various foreign policy priorities in...

I start by bringing our attention back to the Select Committee report. A lot hinges on the first sentence of the summary, which states:"““We recommend that in its response to this Report the Government make a statement of how it ensures that it pursues its various foreign policy priorities in...

: I am delighted that the hon. Lady made that intervention. It neatly brings me to the central point that I was about to make. That is that victories in such environments depend wholly on having the majority of the indigenous population—however much they have been terrorised, bullied and attacked...

: I am delighted that the hon. Lady made that intervention. It neatly brings me to the central point that I was about to make. That is that victories in such environments depend wholly on having the majority of the indigenous population—however much they have been terrorised, bullied and attacked...