Questions and Answers
Dr John Chipman
Minister, thank you very much. I think we have heard three very invigorating presentations that I am sure will have inspired a number of comments and questions. I know that there were one or two particular things that were said about Saudi Arabia, and if His Royal Highness, Prince Faisal, the Deputy Chief of General Intelligence, felt any need to point out any things that he might want to respond to, I would invite him to take the floor if he felt that would be helpful.
HRH Prince Faisal Bin Abdullah Al Saud, Saudi Arabia
Thank you very much. What can I say, we came here and we appreciated your invitation and the hospitality we found in our host country here in Bahrain. But I really have one comment. I would like to say to my friend Al Rubaie, in reality, we love Iraq and Iraqi people. I would just like to say, in this holy month, where hearts come together, as Mr Al Rubaie said, In this holy place, which foundations have been built by the ancestral father of all the prophets, Prophet Abraham; and in this year where the feasts of the three religions are reunified and during which we hope that God’s message of peace, security, friendship and charity will reign. The reason of my intervention, in fact, lies in a misunderstanding about what you said concerning the competition between the Kingdom and Iran, a competition which became a problem. As I said in the beginning, the Kingdom has been chosen by God as the direction for Muslims and it has no competitor in this role, by God’s will. We do not enter in competition with anyone but only for good action, truth and word reunification as far as a friend, neighbour and brother state is concerned in this holy month. All I wish is that we all pray God and I wish merry feasts for everyone. Thank you.
Dr John Chipman
We will now open it up to wider comments.
Mowaffak Al Rubaie
Your Highness, I completely agree with you. I have absolutely no problem accepting that statement and I thank you very much for your contribution.
Dr John Chipman
Khalid Al Khater from the Secretariat of the GCC, and then we will go right through that row to the back. Thank you.
Khalid Fahad Al Khater, GCC
Thank you, John. My question is addressed to Mr Mowaffak Al Rubale. While I do appreciate your courageous statement that Iraq is heading west, how do you think the Iranians will take this statement? Thank you.
Dr Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, UAE
Also, as a follow up, how do you think Muqtadar Al Sadr will react to your question? Also in the same tone, I really disagree with your tone of shifting the blame to the neighbours’ countries. I think if there is any one party to be blamed, it is the Iraqi elite themselves, of which you are one. I think you have been given a historical opportunity to fix Iraq and build a new Iraq, but after five years, you let the Iraqis down. Do you think the new Iraqi elite that came to power after Saddam Hussein, share in any of the blame and in the misery of the Iraqis? Thank you.
Khalid Rashid Al Zayani, Bahrain
Iraq was never stable until Iraq was for all Iraqis. We cannot have a Sunni Iraqi and a Shia Iraqi and a Kurd Iraqi. The oil wealth right now is not fairly distributed to all Iraqis. There is an Iraqi‑rich north and the south. The Sunnis have been penalised just because they are Sunnis. They are counted on Saddam Hussein. Stability to the middle region of Iraq never came until the Sunnis were involved. Unfortunately, unless the constitution is changed to have all Iraqis as equals, there will be no stability in Iraq ever.
Mansoor Al Arayedh, Bahrain
My question is to the Ministry of Defence of Turkey. You have elaborated, Your Excellency, on the stability of borders, with respect to the PKK terrorist organisation. What do you expect Iraq to do? Also, I would appreciate if you could reflect on, for example, what you expect the EU to do to support your efforts in respect to the borders? You are also a country that bridges east and west. The EU has an interest in stabilising the efforts in Turkey.
Dana Allin, IISS
I have a question for Mr Rubaie. You said that you had a message for the US, which was that unless they seriously engage with Iran and Syria, regional security will be seriously in doubt. Yesterday we heard Secretary Gates – who had long been an advocate of such engagement, with Iran in particular – say that since he has become Secretary of Defence, he has only seen a hardening of Iran’s position, and avenues for engagement have been closed off from the Iranian side. I am wondering if you dispute his analysis.
Geoffrey Tantum, UK
Minister Ainsworth called on Iran to meet its international obligations, quite correctly, in the field of nuclear weaponry. Would he agree that the same obligation should apply to Israel in terms of its obligations under UN resolutions to resolve the problem with Palestine, and in particular to apply those resolutions, and that unless that is done you cannot really separate problems of stability in the region from those in Iraq and the GCC states and Iran?
Toby Dodge, IISS
Dr Al Rubaie, you said that Iran had moved to stop cross‑border flows of arms to the militias. That begs the question, why have they stopped now? I would like you to speculate on Iran’s aims within Iraq and why they may have moved now and not before to stop that cross‑border flow.
Abdulaziz Al Salem, Kuwait
I would like to ask a question of the minister. Please could you shed more light on what you said about investment and increasing investment to the south of Iraq? What are your plans to increase investments to the south of Iraq? Please clarify.
Claude Salhani, US
My question is for Dr Al Rubaie. He mentioned that the United States had nothing to worry about as far as Iranian influence on the Iraqi government. When you look at the number of Iranians in Iraq, especially in the southern part of the country, in Basra, is there really nothing for them to worry about?
Dr Osman Faruk Loğoğlu, Turkey
My question is to Mr Al Rubaie. He referred to a long‑term strategic partnership agreement with the United States. Is Iraq really ready to make such a long‑term commitment? Also, what does the strategic agreement involve?
Dr John Chipman
I suggest that Minister Gönül begin on the issue of Turkey’s engagement in the EU, and the impact that that would have. Minister Ainsworth could then expand on his remarks about the UK investment in Southern Iraq. Perhaps Mowaffak Al Rubaie can then answer the particular questions directed to him about the responsibility of the Iraqi elite for the situation in which Iraq now finds itself; the role of the Sunnis; and to provide a more forensic analysis, if I can put it this way, on the reasons for his claim that Iran has ceased its support to militias in Iraq.
Minister Gönül
The question regarding the contribution of the EU to the stability of Iraq is a very good question. As a candidate country to the EU, we are involving all defence issues related to European defence matters. So far, in all our European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) meetings, we are always talking about Iraq, but as far as I know, we do not yet have any projects with ESDP to the contribution of the stability of Iraq on defence matters.
Bob Ainsworth
There were two questions directed to me. Firstly, on the situation in the south, we are exploring now, with the Government of Iraq and also with people locally, how we can do more on the economic development front, and how we can do what we are doing better. As I said, we are hoping that that side of our contribution to the development of Iraq will grow.
We have seen economic growth in the recent past. That economic growth in itself will contribute to the security situation, and the feeling of safety, into the wider development of Iraqi institutions. If we are successful, we will see that side of the equation taking a far more important and significant role.
On the issue of Israel that was raised yesterday and today, in response to what has been said about Iran, of course Israel has responsibilities. They should honour those as everyone else should. However, on the nuclear issue – to take it as an example – we have had people in our country who, for decades, have argued for unilateral nuclear disarmament, for disposing our nuclear deterrent. If the British government was convinced that that would add significantly to the stability and security of the world, we would have done that.
If Israel got rid of its nuclear weapons, would it contribute to stability and security in the region? Maybe. It is debatable. However, there is one thing that is not debatable. If Iran gains nuclear capability, it will damage safety and security in the region. That is why I framed my speech in the way that I did. We can respond to these problems in different ways. We can also look at other problems that we have failed to solve and use them as a reason for not acting in any particular area, or we can confront a problem that we face. All of us need to do our utmost to persuade Iran that enrichment and non-compliance with its international obligations is massively important to this region and to the wider world.
Mowaffak Al Rubaie
The Iraqi people have decided their fate. We have made our choice. The choice is to have a strategic alliance with the United States government. That has nothing to do with our neighbours. They have a perception on this. We need to engage with them that this is not going to threaten their security. Our sense of belonging is to the Arab world. We are an Arab country, an Arab nation, and we are a Gulf country. We are proud to be an Arab.
We are also strategic allies to the United States government. I do not think this is threatening anybody in the region. Somebody referred to positions towards the strategic partnership agreement we are going to sign with the United States. My answer to that is: of course you will find those who are extremist on both sides of the landscape. There are extremist Sunnis and extremist Shiites. They are going to reject this. However, the mainstream – those who are elected by the Iraqi people, the 12 million Iraqi voters – have decided to go this way. Our compass points towards the West, the Arab world, and the Gulf region. That is what we have decided to do.
Somebody referred to the new political elite. This is a completely different socio‑economic class we are talking about. This is a huge subject. I probably agree partly with this. We made many mistakes, thousands of mistakes, and mostly tactical mistakes, over the last four or five years. We also probably made some strategic mistakes. However, we are generally on the right track. We are building a new nation and democracy in this region. This is a huge challenge.
Iraq is for all its citizens. For those who have not read the constitution, please read it. I find that many people who argue about the Iraqi constitution have not read it. It is one of the most progressive constitutions in the world. We are proud of the Bill of Rights and that constitution. All citizens in our constitution are equal. Nobody is penalised for the old crimes of Saddam Hussein. Saddam Hussein was penalised for his crimes.
I am astonished by someone saying that the oil revenue is not being distributed equally. Please look at the Iraqi budget for the last two or three years. You will find that the revenue is shared across Iraqi provinces per capital. That is going to be enshrined in the new hydrocarbons law, and it is being applied by executive directors and the prime minister. Therefore, please look into your inaccurate facts.
Mr Allin asked about Iran and the Secretary of Defence’s speech yesterday, and the Iraqi perspective on that. We share 1,200 km of border with Iran. Iran is with us until the Judgment Day. We have to engage with Iran. We have to build a network of economic, commercial, religious and cultural network to make interest between the two countries so that Iran will think twice before they start meddling in the internal affairs of Iraq, from the security side of it. Through positive engagement, we would like to deter Iraq from meddling in our internal affairs. This is our perspective on Iran.
I was choosing my words very carefully. There are some early signs that Iran has stopped, or has played some positive role over the last few months, contributing to the security, by positively influencing their allies. I made the very clear comment that the reason behind the considerable achievement in security in Iraq is all thanks to the Iraqi security forces, the coalition forces, and sacrifices by the coalition forces, and the aggressive policy of the Government of Iraq for their national reconciliation programme.
The huge Sunni community is also a very important element in our society. They have turned against Al-Qaeda. They are fighting Al-Qaeda. This is what has made the huge difference in the whole struggle against Al-Qaeda. It is the determining factor and we have to sustain it. We have to help our Sunni Arab communities in this, through the local citizen programme, through the tribal awakening, through more aggressive inclusion within the Iraqi army, within the Iraqi security forces and within the political decisions and the political process. This is very clear.
Finally, I will talk about the Iranian influence in Basra. This is probably an outdated question. We have reinstated the former governor of Basra. We are doing a provincial Iraqi control on the 16 December, from the British troops to the Iraqi authorities. All indicators in Basra are showing that there is a significant improvement in security there, especially after the redeployment of some of the coalition forces from the palaces inside Basra to the airport.
I believe we are heading for a very, very good time for Basra. There will be an important Basra development fund or initiative, helped by Her Majesty’s Government. The Iraqi government is also contributing to this. Thank you very much.
With regards to the question about the strategic partnership, there are three main components to the strategic partnership with the United States. One is a diplomatic and political component. The second one is an economic component. The third, and probably most important, is the security arrangement component. We hope to conclude this by the end of July next year.
Dr John Chipman
Thank you all very much.
