Transcripts For CSPAN Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20151118 : v

CSPAN Key Capitol Hill Hearings November 18, 2015

Atrocities like this there can be a back lash against muslim communities. Far right racism have no place in our society, our thinking and i hope there will be no increase in that intolerance as a result of what happened in paris. Will the Prime Minister set out in more detail the steps his government is taking to work with representative organizations of all of our faith communities to achieve that we strengthen Community Cohesion at these very difficult times . We must ensure that those entering our country, whether they are refugees are appropriately screened. The home office will provide the border staff necessary to do this. Its also important in these circumstances that we maintain our humanitarian duty towards refugees. Fleing n refugees are and it is our duty to protect them and our obligation under the 1951 geneva convention. I hope the Prime Minister will confirm our obligation to maintain support for that convention and the rights of that convention will be un diminished. It is vital at a time not to be drawn into responses which feed a cycle of violence and hatred. President obama has said that isis grew out of our invasion of iraq and one of its unintended consequences. Will the Prime Minister consider this as one of the very careful responses that president obama has made recently on this matter. That makes it essential any military response that will be considered and the support of the community and the legality from the you United Nations. Can i welcome the Prime Ministers comments at the g20 yesterday when he said i think people want to know there is a whole plan for the future of syria and the future of our region and a few bombs and missiles wont transform the situation. Can i welcome his commitment to respond to the Foreign Affairs Committee Report and carefully present to the house and to the country. Will he confirm before bringing any motion to the house he will provide full answers to the seven questions raised by the select Committee Report . Would he also say more about the particular contribution that britain has made to the vienna talks on the future of syria . They provide possibly some carbous optimism that could be a political future in syria that involves a ceasefire and the ability of people to return home. Would he also say and this is the final point i want to make on this, what more can be done to cut off supplies of weapons and external markets to isil . Weapons are being supplied to some of the most repressive regimes in the region. What is being done to ensure that they do not end up in even worst hands including hands of isil and the extremist jihadist groups in syria . What can be done to bring to account those governments or organizations or banks that have funded these extremists or turned a blind eye to them . We need to know that the national trail which isil gets its funding and sells its oil. They are very important indeed and i welcome his commitment concerning the problems of epidemics and the problems created by the lack of resistance from antibikes. Would he also consider that cuts are made to Renewable Energy run directly counter to everything he said and everything his government said they want to achieve at the Climate Change talks. We have to combat Climate Change here, internationally and grite britain. I thank the gentleman for his remarks and the tone he is aking. A briefing on National Security issues that is something that is available to all. And if its not offered, please do ask. The National Security to help and particularly important in hese times of heightened alert and right to phrase the Emergency Services in france and they have done an amazing job. And the secretary did this yesterday, ever since the mumbai attacks and the intelligence we had about the firearm attacks, a lot of work has been done in britain to make sure we would be ready for any such attack. I thank him for his support for the Security Services. He right to mention the Civil Liberties and fighting to defend that. On policing, we have protected budgets in the last parliament and do it through this parliament, which i think is vital and see the uplift we are giving to our intelligence and Security Services and do what is necessary to keep our country safe. He is right to condemn antisemitism. All of those issues are addressed in our counterextremism paper and we should be working with local communities as he suggests and we do to make sure they lead in these debates. Some of the things that have been said by muslim clerics and Muslim Leaders have made a huge difference in recent weeks. He asked about borders. We have the opportunity to carry out screening and checks in our borders because we didnt share the border system and were not going to do do that and importance of having those Border Controls. Terms of the syrian migrant program, we are taking 20,000 Syrian Refugees from the camps rather than those who already arrived in europe. There are two levels of screening to make sure that we are getting people who are again inly fleeing persecution and would not pose a risk to our country. You asked about the again he cyst of isil, and what i would say one of the branches of this extremism is what we have seen in our world for most, there is boko haram, al qaeda and the first manifestations of this violent extremism, not least the twin towers attack, that happened before the invasion before iraq. And we dont try to seek excuses or what is they have been killing british citizens for many years. He rightly asked about the process in vienna and we were a key part of that where the foreign secretary has been talk binge that and secretary kerry commended me. He mentioned about additional bombs and missiles only going to be so far in syria. I think britain can do more and because of our expertise and targeting can cut the number of civilian casualties when the action is taken. It would make a difference but i believe yes, along side that, we also need a process that delivers a government in syria that represent all of the Syrian People. You cant defeat isil by a campaign from the air. You need to have a government in iraq and government in syria that can be your partner in delivering Good Government and obliterating the death toll that threatens us and them. Thats the point im making. He asked about cutting the supply of weapons and we are a key part that is working on that. A large of the money comes from oil that it sells not least to the syrian regime. Another thing they failed to address if we are taking part of the action in syria. I met the new canadian Prime Minister and coming to london very shortly to see the queen and i will have a meeting with him and we will Work Together. In terms of the economic slowdown, he is right the forecasts for Global Growth are lower than what they are. Britain and america stand out in the advanced world of having more rapid Economic Growth and we ask others to take the steps to deliver that growth. And finally he asked about renewables and Climate Change. I would say to the house that the summit on Climate Change was disappointing. There is quite a lot of opposition from some countries to put in place the things that are needed for a good deal in paris. Britain can say we played an Important Role and in terms of Renewable Energy and look at what has happened. Nothing short of a revolution in britain. The continued reach and activity of isis represents a monumental interNational Security challenge. The aim was degrade and con them. Can i think my right honorable friend about the need to cut off the financial supply and deal with the narrative over values and what he has said today about joining our allies in taking action over syria and iraq. And no military campaign of this nature has ever been won from the air alone. Can i say to him we may require an International Coalition on the ground top remove saddam from kuwait and rule nothing out and give no comfort to isis. They hate us not because of what we do but because of who we are. I thank him for his support and we can do and what would make the difference rather than what we cant do. Its my contention in the end, the best partner we can have for defeating isil in iraq is having a reformed government in syria that could credibly represent the Syrian People. My thanks to the Prime Minister for his statement and we welcome a commitment by all parties in the house. Can i associate with the shock and sadness with the people of france and all families and friends who were killed. Will the Prime Minister confirm that intelligence information is being shared with our allies in france . The u. K. We are indebted to all of those in our police and Security Services that work to keep us safe. We welcome the commitment to provide necessary funding and personnel to do this type of work. Given the scale of the disaster in syria we welcome the talks at the g20. For the first time there appears to be momentum building to have a ceasefire and combat the terrorism. Can the Prime Minister update the house on the next steps towards a potential ceasefire and political transition in syria . In recent weeks and months there have been largescale bombing operations in syria and bombing by the United States of america and bombing by russia and bombing by france and many other countries and bombs dropped by drones, bombs dropped by fast jets and naval vessels. President obama has reiterated his opposition to providing boots on the ground. Given these facts is the longterm solution to syria is the end of the civil war and supporting kurds . Today we have seen the arrival f refugees from syria in glasgow. Does the Prime Minister agree that the welcome we agree to these reef few geese is the true mark of decency and compassion, in short the complete opposite which was visited on paris by terrorists last friday . I thank the gentleman for his remarks and questions. On the issue of briefings, he is a member of the intelligence and committee if he feels he isnt giving enough briefings, ask my team. He asked about intelligence sharing. We have strong intelligence sharing with the french government and with others in europe. There is more we can do. I spoke to the belgian Prime Minister yesterday to talk about increasing our intelligence sharing and i think thats vital important agenda for us to move on. On vienna, there is momentum behind these talks. The Foreign Ministers are meeting again in the coming weeks. The envoy will bring the different parties together. It is a complex piece of work and vital that some of the opposition groups are involved in this dialogue. We want a future syria where they are all represented and that means that the russians should stop bombing the Free Syrian Army and should be part of the sirenian future. How much can be done from the air. We need an end to the civil war. We need to support the kurds and some of that support can be delivered from the air. They need our help to bring this conflict to an end and his remarks and commend glasgow taking in refuse. And i know they will be looked after. The s acknowledgement that defeat of isil requires a transition out of the syrian civil war. And the progress is beginning to clear the path towards an International Plan that would enable that military defeat of isil. Will he continue to put our full plementic effort into making that plan sufficiently clear, politically, militarily and legally and seek an endorsement of the role of our armed forces that will lead to the defeat of isil in syria and iraq sooner rather than later. I thank my right honorable friend for his support what he is saying. Yes, i can confirm our full plementic effort is bringing everyone together. Itting around the table in arabia, all the key players, russia, all the key players are there. In terms of the legal basis for any action that we might take, i believe we can answer that question comprehensively as we have on other issues and im happy to put that in front of the house as part of my response to the Foreign Affairs of that committee. Isil wants to exploit the refugee crisis and poison europes attitudes that we have seen on the streets of paris. Britain is supporting proper registration in greece. Im concerned that that is not happening. Will he look again you are gently of what more britain and europe can do to support proper registration not just in greece but in internal borders throughout europe so we can make sure that we provide security and humanitarian aid so britain and europe can have security and solidarity to your refugees. She is absolutely right as the external border of europe, greece has played a vital role and the registration of migrants is vital that that takes place properly. My understanding, when it comes to european asylum support, we have given more than any other country in europe. We are putting the resources. Greece is not our external border. The external border is at calais. And we are doing what we can but shes right, making sure people are properly documented is going to be a vital part of our security. Sir william cash. The carnage paris shows the danger of allowing declared jihaddists from returning to their country of origin. Will my friend review legislation to prevent declared u. K. Jihaddists from returning the United Kingdom whatever the fundamental human rights say. We must put the people of this country first. I thank the gentleman for his point and i have sympathy with it and in the counterterrorism legislation that we passed we took further steps to confiscate passports. We can strip them. If we think they are no longer a citizen of this country. We have the temporary power which was controversial but the home secretary and i pushed it forward to exclude british nationals from returning to the u. K. Im looking at options for going further on these measures to make sure we are safe. But it was very contentious at the time. We are right to stick to our guns. I thank the Prime Minister for his statement and join him and colleagues on all sides here today and expressing sympathy to the people of paris, beirut and the injured and those who have lost their lives and the families of them and to condemn the terrorists who seek to attack us. They did he test our diversity, our freedom and our generosity of spirit and they win if we compromise. It is critical any u. K. Military involvement should be on civilian protection along side pushing isil otherwise we repeat the mistakes of the iraq war. Does the Prime Minister agree that the longterm stability in syria must be part of the structure against isil and will he confirm that any plan brought to parliament to use our armed forces there will specifically address this . Let me say i think you are absolutely right to mention the bombing in beirut because some people want to possible it and somehow the clash of civilization, the islamic world against the rest. The beirut bombs as many bombs before it proves that these people, isil are killing muslims in their hundreds and thousands and it is very important to demonstrate to muslim communities in our our countries we take this violence as seriously. He asked whether what we would do in syria would be about civilian protection. Yes, it would be about civilian protection in the obvious way that if we can take out the murderers of isil, we are helping to protect the Syrian People but also because britain has precision munitions like the brimstone missiles which are most effective than what the americans have, would mean a better targeting of the people ho should be targeted and fear civilian casualties. My right honorable friend is absolutely right to focus on the political track in the syrian negotiations, building in part on the anan proposal from sometime and but the significant progress that has been made in vienna last week. If those negotiations are successful, that will of itself remove a huge barrier to the widespread military coalition that all of us want to see and which britain, as he said today, would have the ability and indeed a number of unique assets to play a very significant part. If those negotiations in vienna are successful, i have no doubt that the Prime Minister coming back to this house will get a huge majority of members from both sides in britains full participation in it. What i would say to my right honorable friend and he makes some very good points. As i have said, to defeat isil in syria, two things are required. First of all, we do need to make sure that the international community, arab states and others are taking the military action to degrade and defeat isil but we need an effective ally in syria that could unite the country. Those two things go together. If he is arguing that military action should only follow after some political agreement has been absolutely nailed down, we might be waiting a long time for that to happen and i would caution against that approach and i want to be clear what im proposing here. What im saying the government will bring together all of its arguments about how we succeed in iraq, how we succe

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