Address by The Rt Hon Adam Ingram, Minister of State for the Armed Forces, UK

 

 

 

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen.  It is a great pleasure to participate in this, the third IISS Gulf Security Dialogue here in Manama.

 

These are important times in the security of this region and this has been reflected in the quality of the speeches in Plenary and of the debate in the break out groups.  John [Chipman], I was grateful to you for inviting me to speak from the UK perspective and I am honoured to address you this morning.

 

When my colleague John Reid, the previous Secretary of State for Defence, spoke at last year’s Gulf Dialogue, he began by referring to a Scottish song.  I’d like to balance the books by referring to an Arabic proverb.

 

“In the desert of life, the wise person travels by caravan, while the fool prefers to travel alone.”

 

Friends, this is no time to be travelling alone. 

 

All of us face a range of non-traditional emerging threats – migration, energy security, climate change and the exploitation of religion for malign ends.  These are merging with the more familiar threats of global terrorism, WMD proliferation and failing states. This potent cocktail produces an increasingly diverse range of security challenges.

 

These are challenges that we will have to tackle together.

 

But they really are challenges which are too great to address in full today. 

 

So today I want to talk first about just one of them - terrorism.  About its true nature.  About some myths and misconceptions to do with the role of religion as justification for such evil acts.  And about how we can face up to the threat together.

 

I want to start by reminding you all of the events of nine eleven.  Not the eleventh of September 2001, but the ninth of November 2005. 

 

That was the day two suicide bombers entered a hotel in Amman and attacked the wedding of a young Jordanian couple.  Twenty seven people were killed.  Innocent lives blown asunder on what should have been a happy family day.

 

The groom that day was Ashraf Al Akhra.  He said of the bombers, “they are the enemy of humanity.  They are not real Islam”.  He said, “If I wanted to be angry, I’d do the same as them, but we want to live in peace”.

 

Friends, this is what the vast majority of us want – peace and stability at home, in the region and around the world – whether we come from Europe, from the Gulf or from any other part of the globe. 

 

Those who claim there is a clash of civilisations are wrong.  And those who claim their terrorist acts are part of a holy war between Muslims and non-Muslims are also wrong. 

 

There is no such war.

 

To claim there is, is to underestimate the strength of the values we all share.  Values that are grounded in our shared humanity, not restricted to one faith, country or creed.

 

And what would the terrorist replace those values with?  A deep, visceral hate.  A hate that, as Martin Luther King said, “destroys a man’s sense of values and his objectivity.  That causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true”.

 

Terrorists around the world – and throughout history – have shared a common objective.  To destroy communities, undermine society and set people against people.

 

The United Kingdom has not been immune to this twisted logic.  And yet Britain is a good place to be a Muslim.  A tolerant country with freedom of religion and equality of opportunity.  And British foreign policy is not biased against Muslims, as some would claim.

 

 

 

 

Of course, there are those who seek to radicalise British Muslims by exploiting what we are doing in Iraq.  And of course I realise that our policy on Iraq was and is controversial for many.  But Al Qaeda was attacking Britain long before 2003. 

 

Fanatics who abuse Islam had already taken root, fomenting anger and hate.  It seems to me that it’s more than a little ironic that they were able to do so because of Britain’s traditions of tolerance and liberal democracy.

 

And they did so despite the billions of pounds in humanitarian and development aid we have given to Muslim countries around the world.  Despite the fact that Muslim communities in Britain did not want them to act in this way.  And despite British forces going to the aid of Muslim communities in Bosnia and Kosovo. 

 

There are tens of thousand of Muslims living today in Kosovo, Bosnia and elsewhere who have good reason to thank the resolve of the UK, United States and other like-minded countries, who were prepared to stand against the evil of ethnic cleansing. 

 

By any measure, terrorist attacks have repeatedly made the lives of Muslims worse, not better, and nowhere more so that Iraq

 

That is why Muslims are themselves the most powerful opponents of terrorism conducted in the guise of Islamic purism.  It is why genuine partnerships between Muslim and non-Muslim communities and governments are the best means of avoiding the schism the terrorists seek to create.

 

But as I said in opening, domestic solutions will not be enough. 

 

In the past, when nations have faced a common threat, they have formed alliances to tackle them.  NATO, for example, was born in reaction to the threat of the Cold War.  Two world wars that tore Europe apart – with the unnecessary slaughter of millions of innocents - taught us that collective security depended on collective partnerships. 

 

The UN is the overarching authority for addressing security issues on the global scale.  But it is stretched and set to get even busier.  The reform it is going through will be key to ensuring it has the capacity to play its part in the security arena.  Ultimately, if the international community wants the UN to be effective, we will all have to ensure it has the military, economic and political resources it needs.

 

NATO too, is reforming.  Today, it is heavily engaged in safeguarding the security of its members far beyond its own boundaries.  And at the recent summit in Riga, NATO allies acknowledged the need to work in partnership with other key actors in the region, to make a success of the campaign in Afghanistan.

 

For its part, the EU is working hard to improve the effectiveness of what some call its trademark approach – its ability to draw together military, economic, political and diplomatic levers.

 

Both NATO and the EU have clear interests in promoting stability and peace in and around the Middle East.  But given that 19 EU members are also members of NATO, it makes little sense for them to consider these issues in isolation.  Indeed, there is a need to improve consultation between all three organisations – the UN, NATO and EU – to maximise their effectiveness.

 

The Gulf too will need strong alliances, both in the region and with its friends outside.  Building on the bilateral partnerships that each Gulf nation values, there should be scope to promote greater security through multilateral cooperation.

 

Good progress is already being made in the field of counter-terrorism.  But more might be done in other areas, perhaps maritime security for one, to build confidence and defuse tension in the event of an unexpected incident. 

 

Partners outside the region stand ready to play their part.  But it will be for the Gulf States themselves to lead.  Given that lead, the partnerships that exist can deepen into a stronger regional security architecture.

 

Now, one of the central themes of this conference has been the need to understand that the region’s challenges are inter-related.

 

This was, indeed, a major conclusion of the Iraq Study Group. I want to welcome in particular the emphasis which its report placed on the importance of resolving the Palestinian issue.

 

My Prime Minister Tony Blair stressed this in the evidence he gave to the ISG. He also explained the importance of Palestine when he spoke recently of the need to develop a ‘whole Middle East’ strategy that starts with the core issue of Israel/Palestine.

 

This, above all, is where Europe can and must play a major role. The EU is already a member of the Quartet. It is also the largest contributor of assistance to the Palestinian people. Despite the unwillingness of the Hamas government to commit itself to the Quartet’s three principles, the EU has this year given over 600 million euros to the Palestinian people. And, within the EU, the UK is the single largest contributor – a testament to my government’s determination to make progress on this issue.

 

It is, of course, not only on the Palestinian issue where Europe is playing an important role. In the Lebanon, European partners are providing the majority of the troops for the expanded UNIFIL mission. And we are all solid in our political support for the government of Prime Minster Siniora.

 

A third area where Europe has been instrumental is in Iraq. Beyond the firm political support we give Prime Minister Maliki, Europe has a role in the economic reconstruction of the country. We look forward to a positive outcome from the International Compact initiative.  

 

So, we need to unite the international community, including all moderate Arab and Muslim voices behind a push for peace between Israel and Palestine, in Lebanon, and also in Iraq.

 

We shouldn’t fool ourselves that a peaceful Middle East would be a panacea for global terrorism, but it would be a huge step in the right direction. 

 

Why is this? 

 

Because if a flourishing Lebanon is created, it would mean the terrorists had failed.

 

A stable, democratic Iraq would mean the terrorists had failed also. 

 

And a Palestinian state living side by side with Israel would mean the terrorists had failed also.

 

I am under no illusion. There is a long way to go before we reach this goal.  Those Palestinians, Iraqis and Lebanese who share our values will need more than just our moral support if they, and we, are to succeed.   

 

But the prize is a truly great one – a world in which different faiths and cultures can live side by side.  Proof positive that our children and grandchildren can share a more prosperous, just and secure world.

 

The United Kingdom will play our part in supporting a reinvigorated drive to resolve all of these issues.  And we will continue to work with our friends in all the Gulf States to tackle the practical threats in the region. 

As His Highness The Crown Prince so eloquently expressed last night, this practical co-operation isn’t just an issue for Defence.  Yes, our intelligence and security services can work together.  Maritime operations dealing with merchant shipping can be coordinated.  And yes, legal cooperation can help the development of international law.

 

But our Armed Forces, intelligence agencies and security services can only create the time and space.  Ultimately, it is in the fields of education, development, health, research and employment that the battle for values will be won.         

 

Even if this takes a generation or more, we will stand with you.  I started with an Arabic proverb and I would like to close with a Scottish one.  The Scottish proverb goes, “be slow in choosing a friend, but slower in changing him”.  Make no mistake, we value our friends in the Gulf.

 

Thank you