Results 1-20 of 24 for iraq speaker:Lord Soley

Iraq — Debate (18 Jun 2009)

Lord Soley: My Lords, the last time I spoke on this issue was in another debate on a Motion commendably tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Fowler. I spelt out then my views on what I saw as the failure of the Iraq occupation after the conflict. My noble friend Lady Ramsay has also drawn attention to the important post-conflict failure and to the profoundly important failure to build consensus, particularly...

Freedom of Information Act 2000 — Statement (24 Feb 2009)

Lord Soley: .... Even if the appeal had been run, all it would have done is led to an argument between lawyers about whether the Attorney-General got it right or wrong. That is actually not the key issue about Iraq.

Iraq: UK Forces (20 Mar 2008)

Lord Soley: My Lords, does the Minister agree that it is a good time after these questions to remind ourselves that one of the most important roles for the British Armed Forces in Iraq is to train the Iraqi armed forces, particularly the army? If any criticism is to be had, it is because we disbanded that army far too quickly after the conflict, instead of training it then. No one should be talking of...

Iraq (24 Jan 2008)

Lord Soley: ...;of particular importance—more regional support had we done it at that time. I know there was opposition to it, particularly in the region because of the uncertainty about the stability of Iraq afterwards, but there would have been far greater support than now and Iran would have been less of a problem. It is bizarre that we took no action then—a time when Saddam Hussein had...

Liberal Intervention (15 Nov 2007)

Lord Soley: ...that it was a very good idea when we intervened in Sierra Leone. There were at least two cheers from most people about the intervention in Kosovo. There were virtually no cheers in the case of Iraq. Those cheers died down when the post-conflict phase was done so appallingly badly that it put people like me, who believed very strongly in liberal intervention, into a defensive position,...

Foreign Policy (21 Jun 2007)

Lord Soley: ...as if September 11, 2001 had never happened. Thirdly—this is very important—one thing that you cannot do in politics is to give full backing, as the Conservative Party did for the Iraq war, and then have the Front-Bench spokesman of the Conservative Party saying that we should not have done it. That is one thing that you cannot do. This may sound slightly surprising, but I want...

Iraq (22 Feb 2007)

Lord Soley: ...which enables us to know what the key mistakes were. I will return to those, but the core issue for me and for many of us—this was put well by the noble Baroness, Lady Nicholson—is that Iraq is not the beginning and end of this problem. It is part of a wider problem that has been growing and confronting us, particularly since the end of the Cold War: when and how we should...

Corruption (1 Feb 2007)

Lord Soley: ...for many years, a pretty corrupt and authoritarian regime. There has been considerable pressure on the Saudi Arabian Government to reform, particularly since September 11 2001 and the invasion of Iraq. The noble Earl, Lord Sandwich, might regret the way we lecture countries, but the lecture is appropriate. Our problem with Saudi Arabia is not dissimilar to that with any other authoritarian...

Middle East and Afghanistan (5 Dec 2006)

Lord Soley: My Lords, I begin my comments on Iraq by congratulating the noble Lord, Lord Jacobs, whom I heard with interest confess to being one of few Members on the Liberal Benches to support intervention. He should not be ashamed of that. The reality of Iraq—and I think without any doubt that historians will say this—is that it is a classic example of how to win a war and lose the...

Iraq (11 Oct 2006)

Lord Soley: My Lords, I am not sure that the Minister can answer this, but I shall ask it nevertheless. Is it not common sense and common knowledge to most of us now that Iraq will go down in history as an example of how to win a war and lose the subsequent peace? That happened because when Colin Powell was talking about the post-conflict situation, he was increasingly marginalised and power went to...

Defence (21 Oct 2004)

Mr Clive Soley: I join others in congratulating my hon. Friend the Member for Hartlepool (Iain Wright) on a compelling and convincing speech. I want to comment on Iraq, particularly in the context of the remarkable achievements of our troops over the years in peacekeeping and war prevention. I mention that particularly because, in December, we will get Kofi Annan's high-level report on the problem of...

Iraq (12 Oct 2004)

Mr Clive Soley: One of my many Iraqi constituents asked me over the weekend whether people in Britain understood that the nightmare endured by Ken Bigley's family had been a daily occurrence for families—including his own—in Iraq under Saddam Hussein. He went on to discuss with me the difficulties encountered when a body such as the UN tries to deal with a person who is a psychopathic killer and...

Iraq: Security/Mistreatment Allegations (10 May 2004)

Mr Clive Soley: ...United States? Does he accept that, in the context of any allegations against British soldiers, we need to be particularly visible in conducting our judicial processes? One thing that the people of Iraq know, and which we need to remember, is that far worse actions happened daily under Saddam Hussein, but those never got in the press or were raised in a court or anywhere else. The crucial...

Written Answers — Defence: Iraq (26 Feb 2004)

Mr Clive Soley: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects to receive the report he has commissioned on the availability of body armour during the conflict in Iraq.

Libya (5 Jan 2004)

Mr Clive Soley: ...there are individual differences. Libya was moving, and it was right that we encouraged it to continue to do so, as is the case in Iran and, possibly, Syria. The problem is with countries such as Iraq, where, in spite of numerous United Nations resolutions, there is no sign of movement whatsoever. One lesson we must learn is that the UN should not again pass resolutions without the least...

United Nations (11 Sep 2003)

Mr Clive Soley: ...centre of everything. It did not pay the attention, which we now have to give, to failed and failing states. Our big challenge for the 21st century is to do that. In the several recent debates on Iraq, I became increasingly struck by the similarity between the argument on the primacy of the nation state and the one that we used to have in Britain and other western countries about the...

Oral Answers to Questions — Defence: Iraq (8 Sep 2003)

Mr Clive Soley: If he will make a statement on the peacekeeping role of UK troops in Iraq.

Iraq (18 Mar 2003)

Mr Clive Soley: ...that does not make it wrong on such an issue. The true criticism of the international community, the United States and all hon. Members is that we have done nothing about what has been happening in Iraq since 1991. The real criticism of all us is that we did nothing when Iraq first started to breach not just the 1991 resolutions, but the ceasefire itself, which Saddam had never put into...

Iraq (18 Mar 2003)

Mr Clive Soley: ...tells us an awful lot that there is no starvation, no torture and plenty of medical supplies in either of those areas, and they use the same oil-for-food programme as that available to the rest of Iraq. Of course what failed was the sanctions regime itself. Why? Because Saddam Hussein did what all psychopaths do in such situations—he used the weapons against his opponents. He starved...

Iraq (17 Mar 2003)

Mr Clive Soley: ...year were also breached, we would not be in our current position? Is not the awful lesson of the 12 years that have intervened, in which there have been so many deaths and genocidal activities in Iraq, that we cannot go on passing resolutions unless we are resolved to act?