Results 1-20 of 63 for iraq speaker:Edward Leigh

Written Answers — Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs: Iraq: Peacekeeping Operations (31 Mar 2009)

Edward Leigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he has had with his US counterpart on policy on withdrawal of coalition forces from Iraq.

Written Answers — Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs: Iraq: Christianity (15 Jan 2009)

Edward Leigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations the Government plans to make to the Iraqi government on violence against Christians in Iraq.

Written Answers — Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs: Iraq: Christianity (15 Jan 2009)

Edward Leigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if the Government will make it its policy to support the creation of a self-governing province in northern Iraq linked to Iraq's central government situated in and around the Nineveh Plains and jointly governed by the Assyrian Chaldeans, Shabak, Yezidis and other ethnic groups living in that area.

Written Answers — Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs: Iraq: Christianity (14 Jan 2009)

Edward Leigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if the Government will urge the Iraqi government to support the rights of Iraq's minorities by reinstating Article 50 in the new provincial elections law.

Oral Answers to Questions — Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Topical Questions (13 Jan 2009) has video

Edward Leigh: The Minister will recall that following my visit to northern Iraq, I raised the issue of the persecuted Christians of Iraq, who have suffered terribly in the past four years. Many have been murdered even since September. Often persecuted minorities benefit from being talked about on the Floor of the House, so will the Minister use this occasion to voice his concern and say that he will leave...

Christians in Iraq (16 Dec 2008)

Edward Leigh: One of the problems, as I saw, is that the writ for the Baghdad Government does not seem to apply in northern Iraq. It was only when I was in the Nineveh plains that I saw that many of the checkpoints were held not by Christians, who seem to have no weaponry at all, or have very little, and not by the Iraqi army—I never saw any of the Iraqi army—but by the peshmerga and the Kurds....

Christians in Iraq (16 Dec 2008)

Edward Leigh: ..., and I am delighted to have done so. Why is this subject so important? It is important because we are talking about a massive humanitarian disaster and the fate of the Christian population in Iraq. It is one of the oldest Christian populations in the world, having been settled there for 2,000 years, and is descended in great measure from the ancient Assyrians, who had been there for...

Christians in Iraq (16 Dec 2008)

Edward Leigh: Of course I agree with that. I was about to say that I have some personal experience of visiting Iraq and talking to such people. They are often targeted because they are perceived as having wealth, although they are not particularly wealthy. They want to go on living in Iraq, because they have businesses there and want to get on with their lives. They are not economic migrants, because they...

Christians in Iraq (16 Dec 2008)

Edward Leigh: ...are sitting here in the presence of a British Minister, and there is no doubt that we have a responsibility in the matter. I shall not go over all the arguments about whether it was right to invade Iraq. Everybody knows my views, and we shall now look to the future. The British and American Governments have a responsibility, because there is no doubt that the position of Christians in Iraq...

Christians in Iraq (16 Dec 2008)

Edward Leigh: That is right, and we bear a responsibility. The Christians are a very small part of the total population of Iraq, and there is absolutely no danger to the Sunni, Kurd or Shi'a populations of Iraq. The Christians have a large stake in the political process, but at the moment the Assyrian Democratic Movement, which gets 80 per cent. of their vote, has only one MP to represent them because of a...

Christians in Iraq (16 Dec 2008)

Edward Leigh: ...wished to join your church?" He said, "They could join my church today, but tomorrow they would be dead." There was no doubt about that—it was no exaggeration. One simply cannot evangelise in Iraq or, indeed, in most Muslim countries, and if people seek to convert, they will be killed. On the hon. Gentleman's intervention, the people who have suffered like that are genuine religious...

Christians in Iraq (16 Dec 2008)

Edward Leigh: Yes, I agree with that entirely. I believe that we and the Americans still have considerable influence in Iraq, and that we cannot turn our back on the problem. I spoke about a 19th province, but there are also wider issues to do with Baghdad and Basra and minority representation in the Iraqi Parliament. We have to use all the political pressure that we can muster to try to ensure that the...

Christians in Iraq (16 Dec 2008)

Edward Leigh: ...93 of his congregation have been murdered in the past year—the past year—but his church is still growing. We—the Foreign Office and the Americans—must make it clear to the Iraqi Government that we expect the minority populations of Iraq to be protected in Basra and Baghdad. Canon White lived through appalling violence, and when someone asked him what kept his...

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

Edward Leigh: I congratulate the Secretary of State on his promotion to a vitally important role. He is, of course, full of beguiling words about the success in bringing Iraqi forces up to scratch, although it has to be said that when I was in northern Iraq a few weeks ago there was no sight of them: it was all down to the militia. A lot of the success in dealing with violence in Baghdad is down to former...

Oral Answers to Questions — Defence: Iraq (28 Apr 2008) has video

Edward Leigh: ...Army. What is it supposed to do for their morale when they read the unfair and uncomplimentary remarks about allowing the Americans to do our dirty work for us in the recent operation in Basra in Iraq? Would it not be better for their morale either to let them get stuck in or to get them out of that country, rather than chain them up in the airport against all the traditions of the...

Amendment of the Law: Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation (18 Mar 2008)

Edward Leigh: ...the taxation of family cars. The public are only just waking up to the fact that their small family cars, not the large gas guzzlers, will be taxed. There was insufficient debate about the cost of the Iraq war and the Afghanistan operation. There is nothing more boring than listening to people saying, "I told you so", and my right hon. and learned Friend and I voted against the war....

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Engagements (16 Jan 2008) has video

Edward Leigh: What was the point of invading Iraq, which led to the deaths of 150,000 Iraqis, just to hand over Basra to militant Shi'a militias while the army is holed up in the airport?

Orders of the Day: Local Government and Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (8 Nov 2007) has video

Edward Leigh: ...area, if you will forgive me, Mr. Deputy Speaker, as I think that I am allowed to do so. The Government have alienated the Muslim minority in this country and throughout the world through their policies on Iraq, in particular, and Afghanistan, to a lesser extent. It is well known that I voted against the Iraq war, and I shall not go over that again. However, in the Liaison Committee over...

Oral Answers to Questions — Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Iran (5 Jun 2007)

Edward Leigh: Is it not ironic that one of the many evil consequences of our invasion of Iraq is that we have merely served to increase massively the power and influence of a fundamentalist Islamic regime in the region? Is it not even more ironic that to provide a fig leaf of respectability to get us out of this mess, we have to cut a deal with people who are fundamentally opposed to our national interests?

Opposition Day — [11th Allotted Day]: Armed Conflict (Parliamentary Approval) (15 May 2007)

Edward Leigh: ...historic prerogative of the Crown is rather old-fashioned and how no one believes in it any more, but there was overwhelming public support for what Governments were doing in all wars before the Iraq war, which was declared in March 2003. We only have to think back to the days before the declaration of war in 1914 to recall that there was overwhelming support among the public and in the...