Iraq

Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 7:19 pm on 18 March 2003.

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Photo of Lord Chalfont Lord Chalfont Crossbench 7:19, 18 March 2003

My Lords, I start, as did my noble friend Lord Rees-Mogg, with an unequivocal statement of support for the approach of the Government to this crisis. There is not much else I can say about the policy of the Government on Iraq which has not already been said. I offer a few brief comments.

Despite all that has been said about the United Nations, I wish first to advance the proposition that this is not a war about United Nations resolutions. Whether such-and-such a resolution provides the justification for war or whether we need yet another resolution are questions that are to a great extent irrelevant. The Security Council has already demonstrated satisfactorily that in matters affecting serious international security it is impotent and totally unable to enforce its will, even when it knows what its will really is.

The real questions we must ask are: is this war right and is it politically necessary? In my view the answer to both those questions is yes. If left to himself, Saddam Hussein no doubt could continue to stockpile chemical and probably biological weapons, as he has done in the past. Furthermore, we must contemplate the very real possibility that in future some of those weapons might fall into the hands of international terrorists and create appalling dangers of a kind which today, even after the events of September 2001, we can hardly imagine. The possibility of such weapons falling into the hands of Al'Qaeda or any other group of international terrorists does not bear thinking about.

So even if Saddam does not present an immediate danger to our national security, he certainly has the power to do so in the future. Therefore, to talk of a policy of containment in this case is completely to miss the point. If Saddam is left to his own devices behind a shield of containment, whatever that may mean, he can still pose potentially appalling dangers. It is therefore right and necessary, in order to ensure our national security in the future, that we should take firm action now to ensure that this threat is never allowed to become a real and present danger. If that is called pre-emptive action, then so be it. There is nothing wrong with pre-emptive action in defence of one's own security and values.

The next thing I think we should put into perspective is the question of public opinion. In a situation like this, it is inevitable that there will be demonstrations and protests. No one wants war and it is not in any way surprising that the great weight of public opinion may be against it. But it is the function of political leadership to lead, not simply to follow the dictates of public opinion. So far the Prime Minister has shown courageous leadership in this regard, and he deserves great credit. As with the question of the United Nations resolution, it is what is right that matters. Our political leaders should continue to pursue what they believe to be right, even if for the moment they do not carry the weight of public opinion with them.

Perhaps I may express the hope that, now that the decision to go to war has been taken, everyone will take great care over what they say about the morality, legitimacy and wisdom of that decision, whatever strong views they may hold. A certain amount of the usual words have been spoken about how firmly we are behind our Armed Forces, and of course it is customary to make those remarks in a debate of this kind. But sometimes I wonder how much deep thinking and sincerity lies behind those sentiments. Thousands of men and women are now waiting in the desert to risk their lives over the next days, weeks and months. I know what it is like to be on the edge of going into battle and I have some idea of what might be going through the minds of our soldiers, sailors, airmen and their leaders as they wait to go into action.

In the course of the debate I heard a noble Lord remark—most disgracefully, I thought—something about what would happen after the "next few days of pyrotechnics". This is not going to be a firework display; it is a matter of life and death. Our soldiers are waiting, as they have waited before and undoubtedly as they will wait again, to lay down their lives if that is necessary.

The first thing to say is that many of those soldiers will be afraid. One of the great emotions felt when going into action is fear. Anyone who says that he is not afraid when going into action is lying. But even in the fear, isolation and loneliness of battle, what persuades young men and women to fight and risk their lives is their belief that their cause is right. If they hear people at home saying that the war is not legitimate or moral, or that it is not necessary and is being undertaken for no good reason, or that our allies are a bunch of warmongers, just imagine what goes on in the minds of those young people as they see on television that kind of stuff night after night.

I suppose that one must accept, in a parliamentary democracy such as ours, that there should be open debate about the rightness or wisdom of a cause before decisions are taken—and I do not necessarily suppose that when those decisions have been taken, people will change their minds. But I would hope, at the least, before people express their doubts or demonstrate about the rightness of those decisions, that they would try to put themselves into the minds of those now waiting in the desert, knowing that over the next few days they will be asked to take on what has been called the "unlimited liability" of the soldier; that is, the readiness of a soldier, as a part of his profession, to lay down his life in pursuit of the security of his nation or its values. Incidentally, in pursuing the profession that leads soldiers to that unlimited liability, we should never forget that it is they who preserve the right of people, safely back at home, to make speeches and demonstrate in the streets.