Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-02-12-Speech-3-182"

Predicate	Value (sorted: default)
rdf:type	lpv_eu:Speech2
dcterms:Date	"2003-02-12"^^xsd:date2
dcterms:Is Part Of	lp_eu:Situation in Iraq2
dcterms:Language	"en"^^xsd:language2
lpv:document identification number	"en.20030212.5.3-182"2
lpv:hasSubsequent	lp_eu:2003-02-12-Speech-3-1832
lpv:speaker	lp:John Bowis2
lpv:spoken text	"Mr President, 12 years ago this month, we saw the cease-fire after the liberation of Kuwait. In March 1991, UN Resolution 686 set out the conditions of the cease-fire. In April 1991 UN Resolution 687 required Iraq to accept the internationally supervised destruction, removal or rendering harmless of all chemical and biological weapons, agents and components. In August 1991, UN Resolution 707 condemned Iraq's non-compliance. Now, after 12 years of flouted UN resolutions, 12 years of internal oppression and torture, 12 years of violence against the Kurds and Shi'ites of his own country, Saddam Hussein has been given a last chance. And yet, unlike when we took action to rescue the Falklands, Kuwait and Bosnia, this time our constituents are uneasy and uncertain. They see no unity of purpose among the governments of Europe. They see Member States declining to comply with their Nato obligation to protect Turkey against the possibility of attack. Their fears are confirmed that a European defence policy could be dangerous for Nato. They do not know why action is being proposed, what is supposed to happen at the end of it and which countries might be next. The guilt of Saddam Hussein is in effect being compounded by the failure of our leaders to explain. My own Prime Minister, Mr Blair, has abysmally failed to persuade the British people. He could not even persuade a single one of his own Labour MEPs to vote for his policy. Unlike Iraq, we are democracies. Unlike Saddam, Mr Blair, you cannot go to war without heeding the concerns of your own people. It is time we set out the facts and destroyed the myths. UN inspectors are not like a team of archaeologists excavating for ancient Mesopotamia in the sand. It is not their task to play 'seek' to Saddam's 'hide'. They are there to assess Saddam's evidence of how, when and where he has destroyed or handed over his weapons of mass destruction. We do not need more inspectors. Mr Blix has confirmed that. We need compliance by Saddam Hussein. Where are those precursor chemicals, the munitions? Where are the tonnes of bulk chemical warfare agents: 1.5 tonnes of VX nerve agent, 10 milligrams of which on the skin results in rapid death? I do not believe that any of us want war. We want peace, but we want a peace that is free from the threat of terrorism. Saddam Hussein needs to understand that either he complies in full with the UN resolutions or he risks plunging his own people, once again, into the suffering of war."@en1
lpv:spokenAs	unknown; Conservative and Unionist Party (1999-07-20--2004-07-19)3 member; Committee on Development and Cooperation (2002-05-30--2004-07-19)3 vice-chair; Delegation to the EU-Kazakhstan, EU-Kyrgyzstan and EU-Uzbekistan Parliamentary Cooperation Committees and Delegation for relations with Tadjikistan, Turkmenistan and Mongolia (2002-02-07--2004-07-19)3 member; Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Policy (2002-01-17--2004-07-19)3 member; EPP-ED (1999-07-20--2004-07-19)3 member; Members from the European Parliament to the Joint Parliamentary Assembly of the Agreement between the African, Caribbean and Pacific States and the European Union (ACP-EU) (2002-02-06--2004-07-19)3
lpv:unclassifiedMetadata	"Bowis (PPE-DE )."1

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