Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-01-29-Speech-3-039"
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"en.20030129.2.3-039"2
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"Mr President, there is essentially nothing surprising about the situation today. It is no surprise that the United States have what could be called a need for war, simply because empires can only live through and in a state of war. Nor is it surprising that they need to invent pretexts. Nor is it surprising that Europe, in the face of this, is ludicrously divided. Nor is it surprising that France, in Europe and throughout the world, symbolises resistance to imperial terrorism.
Of course, we are well aware that this empire needs wars, just like any other empire since the beginning of time: war in Kosovo in 1999, in Afghanistan in 2001, in Iraq today and soon, perhaps, also in Côte-d'Ivoire – where this would supposedly be to defend the country against France. It needs wars for various reasons, for oil, naturally, since oil is so very necessary to Bush’s oil consortium, but also for economic reasons. The American economy, as we are forever being told, is on hold and this situation is decidedly bad for growth. In this cruel system, the boost to the economy comes at the price of several hundred thousand deaths. Once again, nothing surprises us any more.
Nor should we be surprised at Washington’s pathetic need to disguise its crimes. What is surprising, however, is that we still take them seriously. The argument concerning weapons of mass destruction, for which we have not the slightest proof, is no longer valid, and has not been valid for a long time in the eyes of public opinion in the greater part of the world. Lest we be accused of anti-Americanism, I would recall what was written by Scott Ritter, an American citizen and member of the first inspection mission halted in 1998 by a first, or second, or third American war. He wrote quite simply that Saddam Hussein cannot have kept the slightest usable chemical weapons programme after the first inspection mission.
I do not have time to explore the other points, but it is also unsurprising that Europe is divided. Some Member States feel more like members of the federation of the United States than of the European Union. One example of which, but not the only one, is the United Kingdom, the reason for whose membership of the European Union is hard to fathom. Then there are others who, like France, retain the idea of a world organised into nations. It is not surprising that France should remain the symbol of resistance to imperial violence: this is its age-old vocation and the vast majority of its people today strongly support the President of the Republic in carrying out this age-old duty."@en1
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