Results 1-20 of 50 for iraq speaker:James Arbuthnot

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Afghanistan and Pakistan (14 Oct 2009) has video

James Arbuthnot: ...request for 2,000 extra troops, so I will not bother to ask about that. One of the key aspects of bringing security to the Afghan people is the training of police who are free from corruption. In Iraq we found that it was of great assistance if the Iraqi army mentored the Iraqi police. Will a similar approach be adopted in Afghanistan?

Bills Presented: Afghanistan and Pakistan (16 Jul 2009) has video

James Arbuthnot: ...to six minutes, Mr. Speaker. I profoundly respect the views of the hon. Member for Newport, West (Paul Flynn), but I also profoundly disagree with them. He made the same points in relation to Iraq, and I think that he was wrong in relation to Iraq. In Iraq, we have seen what is not at all a comfortable country emerging out of darkness, and we have seen the success in transferring to local...

Business of the House: Defence in the World (4 Jun 2009) has video

James Arbuthnot: ...we had a similar debate this time last year, we would have been reminding ourselves that Basra had been completely transformed as a result of the "Charge of the Knights". We would have looked at Iraq and thought, much to our surprise in many ways, that things had gone much better than we might have expected. We should all share in the tribute paid to our armed forces for the immense things...

Business of the House: Armed Forces Personnel (29 Jan 2009) has video

James Arbuthnot: ...accounts for this year to be qualified. The qualification is serious, as the permanent secretary to the MOD admitted to the Defence Committee. The JPA was raised with the Committee when we went to Iraq, and last year when we went to Afghanistan. It is an electronic system that is produced by EDS, a good and thoroughly worthwhile company in my constituency. It has been trying to produce an...

Gaza (15 Jan 2009) has video

James Arbuthnot: ...needs to stop treating the blood of Palestinians lightly." Concentrating on the word "massacre", there is no doubt that that is what it is. It is awful to watch. During the British involvement in Iraq, there has also been a terrible massacre of civilians, as well as of fighters. The same is true of Afghanistan. The same was also true of the second and the first world wars, but that does...

Bills Presented: Iraq: Future Strategic Relationship (14 Jan 2009) has video

James Arbuthnot: ...Valley (Ann Clwyd), that it would give me such pleasure to follow a speech of hers on a subject such as this. I found it extremely moving. The optimism that we are now expressing in relation to Iraq may well mean that her role as special envoy on human rights is no longer needed, and there could be no greater tribute to her than that. While I am on a Welsh theme, I shall say how much I...

Bills Presented: Iraq: Future Strategic Relationship (14 Jan 2009) has video

James Arbuthnot: In some of the interventions that have been made so far, it has almost been suggested that history began in 2003—yet before that time, the number of people who were being killed in Iraq was absolutely horrific. The story of 2,000 villages being wiped out in 1988 by the use of chemical weapons by Saddam Hussein is something that cannot just be ignored by this House. Admittedly, it was...

Oral Answers to Questions — Treasury: Iraq (18 Dec 2008) has video

James Arbuthnot: Does the Prime Minister agree that the democracy in Iraq is not perfect, but it is improving; that the security situation in Iraq is very far from perfect, but it, too, is improving; that Iraq no longer poses a threat to its own population, to the region and to the world; and that now is the time to pay an enormous tribute to the soldiers of the United States, of the United Kingdom and of our...

Oral Answers to Questions — Defence: Iraq (3 Nov 2008) has video

James Arbuthnot: ...again. When the Defence Committee visited HMS Chatham and Umm Qasr a few months ago, we saw the fantastic job that the Royal Navy was doing in protecting the oil, the resource that will help bring Iraq out of this dark period of its history. I recommend that the Secretary of State visit the Royal Navy on his next visit. Will he make an assessment of what the Iraqi navy will do in the...

Topical Debate: Defence Policy (30 Oct 2008) has video

James Arbuthnot: ...is to be no bad news and, secondly, that there is to be no more money. Those two things are incompatible." The people of this country say, "We do not understand what you are doing in Afghanistan or Iraq. Although we think that on the whole the armed forces are badly treated, we do not want to pay more money to them if they are carrying out projects that we do not understand or support,...

Business of the House: Defence in the UK (9 Oct 2008) has video

James Arbuthnot: ...that right hon. and hon. Members will have noticed—that it was in only one theatre of war that we had those casualties over the summer. That suggests that those who had previously died in Iraq on our behalf had achieved a real measure of success. Let us hope that those who have recently died in Afghanistan will eventually achieve, through their sacrifice, the same degree of success...

Business of the House: Defence in the UK (9 Oct 2008) has video

James Arbuthnot: ...in the future, but I am concerned by his remarks about moving everybody around by air. As General Petraeus said last week, in order to persuade the hearts and minds of people in Afghanistan and Iraq, we need a presence permanently on the ground, with soldiers from different forces living among the populations they are trying to help to move towards their own governance.

Oral Answers to Questions — Health: Iraq (22 Jul 2008) has video

James Arbuthnot: ...world? As for the figures that the Prime Minister was kind enough to mention in relation to the Defence Committee report, I agree that it was right to maintain the numbers of our armed forces in Iraq at about 4,500 during the spring. What was wrong, if I may put it gently to him, was announcing, in response to the Leader of the Opposition, the figure of 2,500 in the autumn. Let us put that...

[Mr. Edward O'Hara in the Chair] — Armed Forces Medical Care (17 Jul 2008)

James Arbuthnot: ...previously exist. That is a thoroughly good thing— the more the people of this country know about what we as a nation ask our armed forces to do, the better. Media coverage of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan has been positive and helpful, but I shall come to some aspects of the coverage of our defence medical services. The Committee held four evidence sessions during 2007,...

[Mr. Edward O'Hara in the Chair] — Armed Forces Medical Care (17 Jul 2008)

James Arbuthnot: ...' mental health needs. Reservists play a vital role in the provision of armed forces medical care. The Territorial Army has so far provided about half the medical personnel for the deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. We visited a TA field hospital that was about to deploy to Afghanistan and we were enormously impressed by the enthusiasm and professionalism of the soldiers whom we met....

Topical Debate: Defence Procurement (19 Jun 2008) has video

James Arbuthnot: Let us never forget that. It is the soldiers who need to be protected. What they are doing in Afghanistan and Iraq, they are doing for us—not for politicians but for this country and the stability of the world. We should pay them a great tribute for that. I echo what the Minister said at the beginning about the success of urgent operational requirements. These have been very successful....

Business of the House: HMS Tireless (12 Jun 2008) has video

James Arbuthnot: ...fight the fire. Does the Minister agree that the work that they were doing was no less important or inherently dangerous than the work that our men and women are doing on our behalf in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere in the world, and that we should honour their memory and the sacrifice that they have made? The Minister said that there had been developments to upgrade the design of the...

Business of the House: Defence in the World (8 May 2008) has video

James Arbuthnot: Our armed forces are committed across the world, and I intend to concentrate on Iraq, Afghanistan and NATO. While our armed forces are so heavily committed, I am sure that we would all wish to say thank you to our service personnel, wherever they serve, and to remember that in Iraq and Afghanistan many have died or been wounded in body or mind. We need to remember that they have not suffered...

Business of the House: Defence in the World (8 May 2008) has video

James Arbuthnot: ...that we are not alone in Afghanistan. Some other countries are doing extraordinary things with small resources, and we are extremely grateful to them for working alongside us. Let me start with Iraq. We still have more than 4,000 UK personnel deployed in Iraq as part of Operation Telic. I personally think that that is the minimum number that we can have as a viable self-sustaining force in...

Business of the House: Defence in the World (8 May 2008) has video

James Arbuthnot: We look forward to hearing the answers to these important questions, which relate to the relationship between Ministers and the armed forces whom they lead. The Defence Committee visited Iraq last summer, and we hope to do so again this summer, subject to the points that have already been made about our medical fitness. Every time we go to Iraq we are immensely impressed by the men and women...