Results 1-20 of 45 for iraq speaker:Richard Younger-Ross

Military Vehicles and Aircraft (27 Oct 2009)

Richard Younger-Ross: ...pay with their injuries or their lives because we have not provided them with the right equipment at the right time. We had a phase of the "just in time" principle, but I heard it said in Iraq that the "just too late" principle would have been more accurate. I take issue with the hon. Lady on a couple of matters. She said in ePolitix that "we were virtually defeated in Iraq and are sadly...

Military Vehicles and Aircraft (27 Oct 2009)

Richard Younger-Ross: ...plan to replace those vehicles. The point that I am trying to get to in a roundabout way is that circumstances change. Sometimes they change because of our lack of planning—I think that in Iraq it was our lack of planning—and circumstances are changing in Afghanistan, in a way because of our lack of planning and lack of determination to build the peace. Generals have to deal...

Military Vehicles and Aircraft (27 Oct 2009)

Richard Younger-Ross: ...own problems. We are able at times to change equipment. The Challenger tanks were seen as unfit for purpose when they were in Oman. We managed to change them so that, as I was told when I visited Iraq in 2003, they were exactly the right vehicle for the time. The SA80 guns that we gave our forces were deemed not fit for purpose. We have managed to change them and, when I have spoken to our...

Military Vehicles and Aircraft (27 Oct 2009)

Richard Younger-Ross: ...Dealing with a country of the size and complexity of Afghanistan is much more complex, and the adaptability for different circumstances is changing. We were dealing with lower-altitude fighting in Iraq. The average person reading a paper in the pub on a Sunday in the UK might think that Iraq and Afghanistan are the same, but the altitudes are very different and how the helicopters and...

[Mr. Mike Hancock in the Chair] — Victims of Terrorism (Compensation) (29 Oct 2008)

Richard Younger-Ross: ...not at individuals but at the state, surely the state has a duty to try to compensate and to protect. Sadly, Government actions sometimes exacerbate acts of terror. It was predicted that the war in Iraq would increase acts of terror, and that has happened. I shall not use this debate to argue about whether the war in Iraq was right or wrong, but sometimes the things that we do provoke a...

Broadcasting (Television Licence Fee Abolition) Bill (17 Oct 2008) has video

Richard Younger-Ross: I listened to the BBC World Service a great deal when I worked in Iraq; it was very important to me. I was in Iraq in 1982, during the Falklands war, and I remember the then Conservative Government putting pressure on the BBC World Service because of what they perceived as its biased reporting of that conflict, although from my position, sitting in Baghdad, I thought that its reporting was...

Broadcasting (Television Licence Fee Abolition) Bill (17 Oct 2008) has video

Richard Younger-Ross: ...radio: we are a long way from technology to raise subscriptions for radio, which uses 18 per cent. of licence fee income. In an aside on the quality of the BBC's output, let me say that when I worked abroad in Iraq for seven months in 1982, my sole contact with home was the BBC World Service. I realise that its funding comes from a different body, but the World Service linked into those...

Opposition Day — [14th Allotted Day]: Iraq Inquiry (11 Jun 2007)

Richard Younger-Ross: ...his opening comments, could perhaps be dealt with by a review at a later date, but the points that he is making now are the very reason we need an inquiry now. Reconstruction is still going on in Iraq and Afghanistan, and we need to learn those lessons so that we can make progress and make sure that we get Iraq and Afghanistan right, along with any other areas in which we are involved in a...

Point of Order: Iraq and the wider Middle East (24 Jan 2007)

Richard Younger-Ross: ...night because someone will con them out of their money. We need to move forward and to look at what the reality is now, not from a party loyalist standpoint, but from what is going on the ground in Iraq, in Basra and in Baghdad. My party leader has taken a very bold decision in the past few weeks. He has taken the decision that we need to move the policy on. Although we opposed their use...

Point of Order: Iraq and the wider Middle East (24 Jan 2007)

Richard Younger-Ross: My hon. Friend makes a good point. Personally, I am extremely pessimistic about the situation in Iraq. Whatever is said in the Chamber, the Government and the coalition forces have to start planning for all eventualities. There will come a point at which we have to say that we are going to withdraw our forces. President Bush has said so. He has said that the commitment is not open-ended. I...

Church Commissioners: European Council (18 Dec 2006)

Richard Younger-Ross: ...Minister's statement. Further to the question from the hon. Member for Birmingham, Edgbaston (Ms Stuart), can the Secretary of State confirm that the situation in Afghanistan is not like that in Iraq, that great progress is being made in terms of both reconstruction and peacekeeping, and that the EU, like Britain, remains firmly committed in the long term to solving Afghanistan's problems?

Oral Answers to Questions — Communities and Local Government: Iraq (12 Dec 2006)

Richard Younger-Ross: Does the Minister accept that as there is no British equivalent of the Iraq Study Group, that the—[Hon. Members: "Prompt!"] Does he accept that his use of the word "premature" in reply to earlier questions, suggesting that it would be premature to consider this before the American Government have made their decision, rather reinforces the idea that it is not just the Prime Minister who...

Written Answers — Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs: Iraq (20 Oct 2006)

Richard Younger-Ross: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps have been taken to prevent ammunition obtained from coalition forces' supplies reaching the black market in Iraq.

Orders of the Day: Adjournment (Summer Recess) (25 Jul 2006)

Richard Younger-Ross: ..., has already been touched on. I ask the Deputy Leader of the House to reassure us that Parliament will be recalled during the recess if the situation in Lebanon deteriorates, if the situation in Iraq deteriorates and the country ends up in full civil war, and if our relationship with Iran deteriorates. Those are all serious matters that need to be dealt with in the House. We now have a...

Israel (War against Terror) (4 Jul 2006)

Richard Younger-Ross: ...of the Gulf was swilling with oil and there was plenty of money that could have been used to relieve some of their problems. The idea that the conflict is all religious is not true. I worked in Iraq in 1982 and was privileged to have lunch with one of the senior accountants. The gentleman concerned, whose name is long gone from my memory, was very articulate. He was educated in Great...

Israel (War against Terror) (4 Jul 2006)

Richard Younger-Ross: ...enemies, it will be far harder for them to gain peace and achieve victory in the longer term. Those who support unilateral action are the same people who supported the arguments for war against Iraq. It was argued that we had a big stick and could get rid of Saddam Hussein, but we did not realise the can of worms that we were opening. Our history and our actions teach us that, if we had...

Written Answers — Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs: Iraq (29 Jun 2006)

Richard Younger-Ross: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what account will be taken of the views of the Iraqi Government when considering troop withdrawal from Iraq; and what assessment she has made of the recent comments by Iraq's (a) Prime Minister and (b) National Security Adviser on this issue.

Fatal Shootings (Iraq) (27 Apr 2006)

Richard Younger-Ross: I had the privilege of visiting Iraq in June 2003 as part of the armed forces parliamentary scheme. During our time there, I spent nearly 24 hours with the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment. I ate with the soldiers, talked to them and went on patrol with them in a Challenger tank. The point they made about Sergeant Roberts' death was that he did not have kevlar; I understand that he had in fact been...

Oral Answers to Questions — Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs: Iraq (21 Jun 2005)

Richard Younger-Ross: The Foreign Secretary stated in his opening answer that security was obviously important to the future of Iraq. Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that prosperity is also important if we are to go forward? What contacts and what interchange has he had with European colleagues on the release of European funds for essential works such as water supply and electricity?

Iraq (20 Jul 2004)

Mr Richard Younger-Ross: ...he was being pushed to do so by the official Opposition, who kept accusing the Government and others of being anti-American in any criticism of what George Bush said on the middle east and on Iraq in particular?