Iraq: Coalition Against ISIL

Richard Graham Excerpts

Friday 26th September 2014 Commons Chamber

[Richard Graham (Gloucester) (Con)]

There have been many good speeches today, some at different volumes. I only wish to contribute three main points, first on the justification of military action, secondly on the question of ISIL and Islam, and thirdly on the longer-term plan.

On the first point, I have always believed that there are only two ways to justify military action: the first is self-defence and the second is protecting other states in their self-defence. In the case of the motion, there is both self-defence—citizens have already been captured and executed—and the Iraqi Government’s request for our help in protecting their state against a brutal invasion.

On the second point, it is incredibly important for the cohesion of our country that no one confuses the action we are taking against ISIL for an expression of our views on Islam. Today the leaders of the Muslim community in Gloucester, in my constituency, have published a letter in the Gloucester Citizen which highlights their views:

“Muslim communities in Gloucester today together speak out over the evils of terrorism and condemn the horrific atrocities falsely committed in the name of Islam in Iraq and Syria.”

This is important because, as President Obama and our own Prime Minister have stressed, we should be working with Muslim communities and not allowing this legal action to become a wedge between them and the rest of us. I hope that the Deputy Prime Minister will agree that there is more to be done on this on both sides.

On the way ahead, the motion is clear that our plan of action is to support

“the Government of Iraq in protecting civilians and restoring its territorial integrity”.

For me, that is enough for now. I strongly believe that the answer to the question, “Should we be sending Tornadoes everywhere in the world where barbarous terrorists strike?”, is that, as the Leader of the House, then Foreign Secretary, once said, “Just because we cannot intervene everywhere does not mean we should never intervene anywhere.” We do so today in a coalition of regional countries and two other permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, at the specific request of the Government of Iraq. There is no doubt that a significant effort will be required to bring about what Ban Ki-moon said in the great quotation that the Prime Minister repeated regarding the strength of Governments in defeating terrorism. There is a huge amount of work to be done on that.

In his guide to the causes of war, the historian Sir Michael Howard wrote:

“Force, or the threat of it, may not settle arguments, but it does play a considerable part in determining the structure of the world in which we live.”

Let us therefore hope that in supporting this motion, the action we take will help to bring about a structure in Iraq in which all peoples can work together peacefully.