Iraq

Saturday

James Forsyth

US warns it will take a year to wrest Mosul back from Islamic State

The problem posed by Islamic State will, sadly, not be dealt with quickly. The New York Times reports that John R. Allen, the retired US general coordinating the international coalition against IS, has warned that it will take up to a year before Iraqi forces are ready to try and re-take Mosul.   Given that IS is more firmly entrenched in Syria than Iraq, this suggests that defeating it there will take even longer. Indeed, the Syrian problem is compounded by the fact that there are not credible ground forces there to take the fight to IS.   Air strikes against IS are aimed more at disrupting its momentum and

Thursday

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 2 October 2014

Home The Commons, having been specially recalled, passed, by 524 votes to 43, a motion supporting ‘the use of UK air strikes to support Iraqi, including Kurdish, security forces’ efforts against Isil in Iraq’. Only after four days did RAF Tornados from Akrotiri in Cyprus find some targets in Iraq to bomb. In support of her contention that Isil’s ‘hateful ideology has nothing to do with Islam’, Theresa May, the Home Secretary, in a well-received speech at the Conservative party conference, quoted the Qu’ran: ‘Let there be no compulsion in religion’ (Sura 2:256). A poster intended for staff was put up by mistake in the window of a Sainsbury’s in

Simon Heffer

What will it take for us to stop doing business with Qatar?

On 17 June, a meeting of the Henry Jackson Society, held in the House of Commons, discussed (according to the minutes published on the society’s website) how a tribal elder in northern Cameroon who runs a car import business in Qatar has become one of the main intermediaries between kidnappers from Boko Haram and its offshoot Ansaru and those seeking to free hostages. It was alleged that embezzlement of funds going to Qatar via car imports might be disguising ransom payments. It was also alleged that Qatar was involved in financing Islamist militant groups in West Africa, helping with weapons and ideological training, and (with Saudi Arabia) funding the building

Friday

James Forsyth

Commons vote for strikes against IS in Iraq

By 524 votes to 43, the House of Commons has voted to support air-strikes against Islamic State in Iraq. The margin of victory is not surprising given how limited the motion was, it rules out ground troops and makes clear there’ll be another vote before any action in Syria. But in a sign of the unease of some on the Labour side, Rushanara Ali, who represents George Galloway’s old seat of Bethnal Green and Bow, has resigned from the front bench over Labour’s support for the motion. Indeed, the first estimates are that 24 Labour MPs voted against while just five Tories opposed. The question now is whether, and when,

Ed West Ed West

Multiculturalism makes Isis a threat to Britain

So we’re back to bombing Iraq again, by the looks of things, for the third successive decade – this time to destroy the Islamic State, or Isis or whatever they’re called. David Cameron, asked by an MP whether Isis was a ‘threat to the British people’, answered ‘yes’ and said: ‘This is about psychopathic terrorists who are trying to kill us. Like it or not they have already declared war on us. There isn’t a walk-on-by option.’ But has Isis declared war on us, and is it actually a threat to us, and if so why? Isis certainly poses a grave threat to its neighbours, and as with all militant

Alex Massie Alex Massie

ISIS are a scourge on humanity; the UK must play its part in confronting this horror

Doing nothing is always an option. Sometimes it can even be a sensible policy. There is much to be said for modesty and restraint and an awareness that unforeseen consequences lurk around every corner. Even so, doing nothing has consequences too. But the United Kingdom is not going to war in Iraq again. It is not going to war in Syria either. There are two parts to the battles against ISIS: an on-the-ground war and an in-the-air police action. We are, today’s vote in the Commons permitting, taking part in the latter element of the battle. A punitive action designed to make it easier for those doing the real fighting – the Kurds and others

James Forsyth James Forsyth

If Islamic State is to be defeated, it must be attacked in both Syria and Iraq

listen to ‘David Cameron’s statement on Isis and Iraq’ on audioBoom Parliament will today vote for the motion authorising air strikes by the RAF against Islamic State in Iraq. The motion with its promise of a further vote before any action is taken in Syria and a commitment not to put troops on the ground has been designed to pass as easily as possible. Understandably, no one in Downing Street wants to risk a repeat of last year’s Syria vote. But the reasons why the motion will pass are also the reason why it is not fit for purpose. Islamic State has succeeded in rendering the border between Syria and

Thursday

Isabel Hardman

Government publishes motion on attacking Isis

Today’s Cabinet meeting agreed the following motion on attacking Isis in Iraq. Note the stipulation that attacks on Isis in Syria be subject to a separate vote in the House of Commons Here is the motion in full: That this House: Condemns the barbaric acts of ISIL against the peoples of Iraq including the Sunni, Shia, Kurds, Christians and Yazidi and the humanitarian crisis this is causing; Recognizes the clear threat ISIL pose to the territorial integrity of Iraq and the request from the Government of Iraq for military support from the international community and the specific request to the UK Government for such support; Further recognizes the threat ISIL

Wednesday

Isabel Hardman

Parliament recalled to discuss airstrikes on Isis in Iraq

Number 10 has just confirmed that Parliament will be recalled on Friday to vote on a motion authorising British involvement in air strikes against Isis in Iraq. A spokesman said: ‘The Speaker has agreed to the Prime Minister’s request to recall Parliament this Friday to debate the UK’s response to the request from the Iraqi government for air strikes to support operations against Isil in Iraq. ‘The Commons will meet on Friday for a debate on a substantive motion. The Prime Minister will open the debate and the Deputy Prime Minister will close the debate. The Prime Minister has called a meeting of the Cabinet tomorrow at 1pm.’ All three

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Who is the rogue person asking MPs about attacks on Syria?

MPs are still waiting to hear confirmation that Parliament is being recalled on Friday, although many have been told to expect a sitting to discuss military intervention against Isis. The chances are that it won’t be announced until the Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has made a formal appeal for British involvement, and the Labour conference has finished, so that this cannot in any way be interpreted as a bit of politicking from a Conservative party keen to sabotage the Opposition’s gathering. The whips have been phoning MPs this morning asking about their support for strikes on Isis in Iraq. But some have also been asking about attacks in Syria,

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Westminster prepares for recall to discuss air strikes

Parliament is expected to be recalled on Friday to discuss British military intervention against Isis. David Cameron will hold talks with his Iraqi counterpart today, with Haider al-Abadi expected to make a formal request that Britain join the military action. Labour is staying supportively non-committal at the moment, with Ed Miliband saying again on the Today programme that Labour hadn’t yet been approached, but that it would consider anything the government put on the table: ‘I think the situation in Syria is somewhat different, in that’s it’s not a democratic state, we’ve got the Assad regime in Syria, we called yesterday, we supported the American action, but we called yesterday

Tuesday

Fraser Nelson

Five main points from Michael Fallon’s hawkish interview in The Spectator

James Forsyth interviews Defence Secretary Michael Fallon in this week’s Spectator. You can read the full interview here. Here are five key points from the piece: 1. A ‘new Battle of Britain’:  ‘We’ve had attacks on the streets of London, on our transport system, at Glasgow Airport, the murder of Lee Rigby – how much more evidence do you need that this is a very clear and dangerous threat to our way of life and to all the democracies of the west.  This is a new Battle of Britain.’ 2. MPs need ‘courage’ to vote for military intervention:   ‘I hope parliament now will have the courage shown by our

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Exclusive: Michael Fallon says UK should reconsider military action in Syria to combat ISIS

The Ministry of Defence is like a sauna on Sunday. The air circulation system has been switched off and the place is hot—and deserted. Yet when you reach the Secretary of State’s floor, a small team is hard at work. As you enter Michael Fallon’s office, you see the reason why. On an easel sits a map of Iraq and Syria. Tellingly, though, this isn’t the only map on the stand. Sitting behind it are ones of Pakistan, the Central African Republic and Sierra Leone. It becomes clear as the interview goes on that the one of Ukraine has gone missing. Fallon is 62, but he has the energy of a man half his age.

Thursday

Taki

What is to be done about a world where everything is for sale?

Next time you read about an auctioneer’s gavel coming down on a $150 million painting bought by some flunkey representing the ruling family of Qatar, don’t ooh or aah, but think of those monsters in Iraq and Syria who have their children pose on video while holding up the severed heads of innocents. And no, it’s not a stretch — without Qatar’s gold Islamic State would not exist, not even in the movies. Let me put it another way: had Calvin Coolidge or Herbert Hoover given White House dinners for Al Capone, the outcry would have been heard all the way down to Patagonia. Yet, as reported in these here

Friday

Stephen Bayley

Four-wheel-drives are to ISIS what longbows were to the English at Agincourt

What exactly, I found myself wondering, would jihadists do without modern four-wheel-drives? Car ads are customarily shot on the French Riviera’s Grande Corniche or on a very particular road in Tuscany that all art directors know. But the sight of 43 brand new and coruscatingly white Toyota Hiluxes rolling across the infernal Syrian-Iraq border added a hard-edge nightmare venue to the ad-man’s soft-focus dreamscape. If there’s a micron of comfort to be had from the horrors of the Middle East, it’s that the medievalising ISIS has a keen admiration for the consumer goods their despised enemies manufacture. In an earlier conflict, The New York Times called the same Hilux ‘the ride

Thursday

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 11 September 2014

Home England suddenly began to take the prospect of Scottish independence seriously after a poll of 1,084 people by YouGov put support for it at 51 per cent and opposition at 49 per cent. A survey by TNS showed 38 per cent of Scots backed independence compared to 39 per cent opposing it (with 23 per cent not knowing). The pound fell to its lowest for ten months against the dollar. George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in concert with Labour and the Liberal Democrats, promised a timetable for further devolution if voters in Scotland would only reject independence. The Prime Minister and the leader of the opposition agreed

Tuesday

Stephen Barclay

Why is Britain arming countries that support terror in the Middle East?

Why is the UK still supplying arms to those who helped fund the so-called Islamic State, and what leverage does it bring? In the Prime Minister’s statement to the House of Commons following the Nato summit over the weekend, he spoke of seeking a broad base of support through the UN. Yet there was no mention of military action—as opposed to diplomatic assistance—from Gulf States. Islamic State has been bankrolled by wealthy Gulf individuals from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Kuwait, and their Governments have failed to act to prevent it. In March 2014, Nouri al-Maliki, the outgoing Iraqi Prime Minister, accused Saudi Arabia and Qatar of being ‘at war with Iraq’. Six

Thursday

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 4 September 2014

Home Britain’s terror threat level was raised from ‘substantial’ to ‘severe’ in response to fighting in Iraq and Syria, meaning that an attack on Britain was ‘highly likely’. Three days later, David Cameron, the Prime Minister, in a hesitant statement to the Commons, proposed that: police should be able to seize temporarily at the border the passports of people travelling overseas; there should be all-party talks on drawing up powers to prevent suspected British terrorists returning to Britain; those under terrorism prevention and investigation measures (Tpims) should be subject to ‘stronger locational constraints’. The Celtic Manor Resort (rooms from £77), near Junction 24 on the M4 outside Newport, prepared to accommodate

Rod Liddle Rod Liddle

It’s time we apologised to Assad – he had a point about those rebels

I saw MPs Peter Hain and Andrew Mitchell agreeing with each other on Newsnight about the need, now, to talk to President Assad, so that we might better combat the Islamic savages running amok in Syria and Iraq. Yee-haw. If I could see, two years back, that Assad was infinitely preferable to the majority of those people who took arms against him, then why couldn’t our politicians? Do they really still cleave to the idiotic view that the Arab people are ‘just like us’ and are ready and waiting for a pluralistic, representational democracy, perhaps with the alternative vote in place for local council elections, and maybe Baroness Ashton and

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Support grows for British air strikes against Isis

If there is a strategy buried under the ‘no strategy’ response by the US and the UK to Isis, it seems to be that David Cameron and Barack Obama have preferred to make the case for greater military involvement by waiting for everyone else to get frustrated that nothing is happening. Where a few weeks ago, there was plenty of muttering about the polls and the public being weary of intervention, we see today that voters are starting to push for greater UK involvement. They are not, of course, in favour of boots on the ground (one of those phrases that is as worn out now as a very old