Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-05-15-Speech-3-316"
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"en.20020515.11.3-316"2
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"Mr President, Iraq has the potential of being rich and prosperous. In her solid report, Baroness Nicholson makes no bones about this. Her first concern, in this connection, are the citizens of that country. In this she is in good company, in the person of the renowned Arab world expert, Professor Bernard Lewis. Based on his own experience, Lewis sings the praises of the standard of Iraqi students.
The entirely inhumane regime of Saddam Hussein, however, has done terrible damage to Iraq's national development capacity. At the same time, the Iraqi autocrat’s inextinguishable vindictiveness and thirst for power continue to pose a serious threat, both for the region and for international order as a whole. How else can his secret programme of weapons of mass destruction be explained? The same applies to Saddam's open support for Palestinian suicide attacks on Israeli citizens. The Nicholson report is outspoken about this destabilisation strategy.
It is therefore with force that I wish to counter Mr Sakellariou's Amendment No 6. It is first of all not very sportsmanlike to belittle the Nicholson report as being "merely the rapporteur’s personal opinion". Moreover, the allegation is, in fact, altogether incorrect. After all, this is a report that has been adopted by this Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Common Security and Defence Policy by a large majority, without any dissenting votes.
Finally, I can fully identify with the proposal on the issue of preparations on the European side for an
International Tribunal on Iraq. The effectiveness of such a tribunal, however, does presuppose the fall of Saddam Hussein's reign of terror. And do the Council and the Commission, along with the Bush administration, really wish to face up to this wish? There is certainly no shortage of reasonable, nationally representative alternatives to Saddam's entourage.
In that case, the sanctions could be lifted wholesale with immediate effect. The country's rich potential could then once again develop fully for the benefit of the Iraqi citizens and for the benefit of regional and global stability."@en1
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