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Mr. Robertson: I take that as support.
Mr. Robertson: I suppose that that qualified support is better than no support, which is what has been offered by some other hon. Members on the Conservative Front Bench.
I shall answer the questions that have been raised soberly, because there should be maximum unity in the House at this time. Frankly, there are many questions to which enormously detailed answers would be of more advantage to the opponents of the alliance than to the House. However, my military commanders and I have given the maximum information that we believe is reasonable and possible. We have been attacked in many quarters for giving too much information--an accusation that I take on the chin.
The hon. Gentleman first asked whether the three battalion groups that I have talked about today were the same 2,000 troops that we sent to Kosovo as part of the second battle group. No, they are not, and that should have been reasonably obvious. We announced that those three battalion groups had been put into training, with the potential of being available if NATO were to decide that a bigger force was needed.
The hon. Gentleman asked when those troops will be deployed. That is a matter for NATO, not for individual countries. I wish that the Opposition, when they respond, both in the House and outside it, to statements such as today's, would remember that the operation is being conducted by NATO. There are 19 countries in NATO. The hon. Gentleman is perfectly entitled to attack this Government in this House, but this is an alliance effort, and all the stronger for being so.
The hon. Gentleman asked whether I was aware that, if required, 1 Para would be able to deploy only if it borrowed from 3 Para. Of course I am aware of that. The hon. Gentleman should be aware that, in practically every operational context, now and during the previous Government's period in office, battalions deployed for operations in theatre are all backfilled.
I thought that the hon. Gentleman made too much fun of my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary and the American Secretary of State, who last weekend showed the alliance solidarity that binds us together. On the very day that my right hon. Friend left Washington, the President of the United States wrote an article in The New York Times that made it clear that other military options existed and that no military option had been taken off the table. The hon. Gentleman may care to pick apart various phrases, but that is the reality of the alliance that we have today.
The shadow Defence Secretary claims that we suggested in the media that this is an invasion force, whereas we have said exactly the opposite. This is not an invasion force: it is a strengthened peace implementation force. That is a fact, and that is the reality of what we are doing. He asked when the troops would arrive in theatre.
I have no intention of answering that question today, and anyway it depends on what the NATO military authorities ask us to provide from the earmarked troops.
The hon. Gentleman asked whether the total numbers include troops in Albania. Although the commander of the Albania force, General Reith, who is acting with enormous distinction and international praise, happens to be British, he is a NATO commander. He has some British support elements, but the vast majority of the troops in Albania, who are, after all, in the theatre, come from France, Italy and the United States.
The hon. Gentleman also asked about windows of opportunity. I should like to say to him and to anyone else who is listening, including people in Serbia, that there are plenty of windows of opportunity for us to act. We shall keep acting day on day until NATO's reasonable conditions have been satisfied.
The shadow Defence Secretary accused us of indecision, but I have come to the House of Commons today to show that NATO and this country's responsecan be decisive. This is a momentous day. We are strengthening the peace implementation force available to NATO to deploy when it is the right time for the refugees to go home. I should have thought that that measure deserved a more gracious welcome from Her Majesty's Opposition than it was given.
Mrs. Anne Campbell (Cambridge):
Many people will be heartened to hear my right hon. Friend's statement about the necessary support to help refugees to go back to their homes in Kosovo. Will he outline the measures that will be taken to clean up and rebuild the civilian infrastructure, which will be necessary for the refugees to live a normal life once they get back home?
Mr. Robertson:
My hon. Friend is right. The damage that has been done by Milosevic's marauding troops is considerable. As the G8 declaration clearly lays out, the social reconstruction of Kosovo will be a big task for all of us. That is one of the reasons why NATO felt that it was right and proper to increase the size of the forces required. Although civilian authorities will have to be put in place, the early burden will inevitably fall on the military. We shall have to be ambitious in what we do inside Kosovo if those traumatised people are to have a semblance of normality.
Mr. Menzies Campbell (North-East Fife):
Following the Prime Minister's answer to the question put earlier by my right hon. Friend the Member for Yeovil (Mr. Ashdown), does the Secretary of State agree that it is not simply by numbers but by the composition of its forces that NATO will make clear to the Milosevic regime its determination that the refugees should be able to return and live in peace? Does he agree that the forces must be capable of sustained, high-intensity warfare and not only reconstruction, if NATO has to impose its will in a hostile environment to enable the return of the refugees before the onset of winter?
Does the right hon. Gentleman further agree that NATO's overall forces must be structured so as to be able to impose, and not just implement, peace, and must contain a preponderance of teeth arms? He told the House that he envisaged that the United Kingdom's contribution to the force would reduce markedly after an initial
deployment period of six months. On what factors does he base that assessment, and from what date will that period run?
Mr. Robertson:
The composition of whatever force is put in place will, of course, determine what that force can do. That is why we are being judicious in the troops that we send. Some of the troops who have been in the region since the beginning of the year are involved in high-intensity warfare, but such is the flexibility of our forces that, when the hundreds of thousands of human beings who have been evicted from their homes and from their homeland came across the border into Macedonia, those forces rose to the occasion and built the refugee camps. It is possible for troops trained for high-intensity warfare to move to a humanitarian role, and such skills will be necessary when we go into Kosovo to return people to their homes.
The picture that I have painted, and what I have said about the troops who have been earmarked, will have given the right hon. and learned Gentleman an idea of the problems that we expect our troops to face in Kosovo. Just one factor is the number of land mines that will have been sown by Milosevic, irresponsibly and illegally, during his occupation. They will pose a substantial risk to all incoming forces. The NATO structures will reflect the fact that, even in the most permissive circumstances, the environment will still be dangerous, and the fact that a wide range of capabilities will be required.
The deployment of the Allied Command Europe Rapid Reaction Corps in NATO doctrine is predicated on a deployment of six months, so that the corps can be available for other duties. The decision on when the clock starts to tick will be a matter for NATO, but the choice of a date for the corps to perform the task for which it was sent--returning the refugees--will be perfectly understandable.
Mr. Kevin McNamara (Hull, North):
Many people will welcome today's announcement, especially given the common view that it was a silly error to suggest at the start of the bombings that land forces would not be sent in. That was indeed a major error, and it probably encouraged Milosevic.
Nevertheless, there are real fears that the refugees will not return to Kosovo this year, and that many will spend their time in Macedonia, Albania and elsewhere. Will my right hon. Friend give an undertaking that those who are exposed to the terrible winter conditions of the area will be adequately housed and fed, and will not be left in tented encampments?
Mr. Robertson:
Notwithstanding my hon. Friend's welcome, I disagree with him about whether it was right or wrong to rule out a wholesale land invasion in the face of organised resistance in Kosovo at the outset. NATO--all 19 of the allies--made a careful and considered decision at the time about what was the best military option to deal with the circumstances that existed at the time. It is easy for some, with hindsight, to criticise the decisions that were made then, but I think that history will show that the right decisions were made.
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