Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-03-26-Speech-3-050"

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"Mr President, the 1815 Congress was criticised for amusing itself while there was a war on. One could take a cue from history and lay the same charge against the members of the Council. In the shameful summary document issued, the word Iraq first appears only on page 31 of the 36 pages of the Presidency conclusions. Mr President-in-Office of the Council, your distressing verbal statement proved the Union’s failure and powerlessness. The war is happening. It is an event of major significance. With Great Britain at their head, the Union’s members are directly responsible for it. Yet you say we can do nothing about it and we should change the subject. There is actually a lot to be said, now that the lies used by the British-American Empire to justify its brutal aggression have been revealed as what they are. It claimed the war was about enabling the UN to disarm Iraq. That was a lie. The war had in fact been planned from the outset, regardless of any developments. This has now been revealed. You ventured to say the Security Council was stalled because it had not voted a resolution authorising the war. That was a lie. The Security Council was not stalled. It had adopted a procedure that was working. Iraq was supposed to be weakened. It had been systematically starved for ten years, and forced to disarm in exchange for promises of peace. It was meant to collapse during the first few hours of battle. That proved to be another lie. Iraq is offering strong, often heroic resistance. The people of Iraq were going to greet the troops of the British-American empire as a liberating army. That too was a lie. The people perceive the troops as an army of occupation. Iraq was said to possess weapons of mass destruction. The whole spectrum of falsehoods on this subject has been aired, from the most sinister to the most ridiculous. I have in mind Tony Blair’s statement on 5 February. He brought shame upon himself when he presented a report justifying aggression. Eleven of the 19 pages of the document were based on a student diary dating back some ten years. To date, the only weapons of mass destruction recorded are the millions of sophisticated bombs and missiles the Anglo-Saxon empire is using to wipe out Iraqi towns. As a lawyer, I have noted the cynical violation of all the legal provisions the British and Americans themselves put in place to prevent war. As a European, I regret the hatred of the Western world resulting from the use of the empire’s bombs. Sadly it is justified. As a Christian, I am aghast that a blatantly unjust war should be waged in the name of God. I believe in calling a spade a spade. Tony Blair is merely an urbane murderer. As for George Bush, he should stop appealing to God, unless it is to beg Him to keep the blood of innocent Iraqis from staining the hands of the American people."@en1

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