Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-03-26-Speech-3-059"
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"en.20030326.5.3-059"2
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"Mr President, I would like us to cast our minds back to September 11 2001. After those events we all agreed that the world had changed. We appreciated that global terrorism, a terrorism well-financed and organised with no clear political objective beyond creating chaos, required a new approach to security. It was clear that we can no longer take a passive approach. We can no longer sit on the sidelines tut-tutting when faced with dangerous, repressive regimes prepared to murder their own people, threaten regional security and nurture terrorism.
We saw that we needed a pro-active approach, we needed to develop a concept of global justice for all people and to build a worldwide security system based on active involvement. We followed through on that in relation to Afghanistan, but now when faced with a difficult and dangerous crisis, we seem to have retreated into a comfort zone of our old certainties. We have particularly retreated to the cold war attitude towards the United States. We feel that the transatlantic relationship is some sort of zero-sum game. For one side to win, the other side has to lose. If we continue that process the world will become much more secure because every issue and every crisis will be divisive as we try to gather around separate poles. We need transatlantic partnership for the benefit of world security.
We must ensure that we get global certainties and agreements for the future and not re-fight old battles. It may well be that the structures we set up after the second world war are not suitable for dealing with the post-September 11 world. In that case we should be working to the future, thinking about how we rebuild Iraq with United Nations support and how we secure peace in Iraq whilst respecting the rights of Iraqi people to their own future.
As I speak, many thousands of my own countrymen and women are putting their lives at risk to free a people from tyranny. Many people do not agree with that war and I respect their views but I ask that this Chamber respects the position of the men and women whose lives are at risk. I am frankly amazed that, amongst all this talk of legality, I have not heard one word about Iraqi treatment of prisoners of war, which is contrary to the Geneva Convention. I have not heard one word of condemnation of Iraqi troops killing their own people in Basra. Imagine what British troops feel like seeing that happen and being powerless to stop it."@en1
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