Mr. Speaker, I find it really too bad that the minister has, apparently, only a knowledge of the history of Iraq going back about two years. It seems as though he has forgotten that there have been decades of violent dictatorship in Iraq that have caused extremism to rise; and building political institutions that are democratic, strong, and inclusive has been very difficult. It has not been a priority of the international community. Rather, in 2003, the United States invaded Iraq against the will of the international community.
What we are seeing today is only a continuing of decades of violence not being addressed in long-term, sustainable ways. Obviously, what is happening right now is a humanitarian crisis of the highest level, but it did not arise out of nowhere.
We need to understand what the consequences are of intervention in Iraq and what it is going to mean decades in the future.