Henry Jackson Society
With regard to the above, it's interesting that their list of signatories (which includes Stephen 'invade Spain' Pollard!) to a list of principles that includes an attack of the Bosnia policy of the mid-1990s includes Michael Ancram. Ancram's position in Bosnia was the same as Douglas Hurd's (Hansard, 19th April 1993):Mr. Michael Ancram (Devizes) : Does my right hon. Friend agree that the situation in Bosnia is anything but simple and that, although Serbs are committing appalling atrocities against Muslims, at the same time Muslims and Croats are committing appalling atrocities against each other, sometimes under the nose of the British forces? Does my right hon. Friend therefore agree that our response should ultimately be based on a balance of moral imperatives and that, while positive military intervention might, in the short term, prevent some of the atrocities taking place, in the longer term it could threaten a wider and even bloodier civil war throughout the region and that it should be considered only as a last resort?
Mr. Hurd : My hon. Friend has the balance quite right. We must take account of events where the cameras are not. The heaviest fighting in the past day or so has been between Muslims and Croats. This is very relevant to the suggestion that the arms embargo should be partly lifted ; we must take that into account. We must take into account the very fragile situation in Croatia where a truce is just holding and where the UN forces are in substantial operational difficulty. Those are the kinds of thing that do not come into the headlines or into the news bulletins day after day and night after night, but they are part of the total picture. If we took action to deal with the situation
ps The debate is here. Perhaps George Galloway should take Ancram's place?
posted by Matthew @ 11/28/2005 04:57:00 PM
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