Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-09-15-Speech-3-049"
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"en.20040915.2.3-049"2
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"Mr President, the present joint draft resolution is both totally harmless and absolutely obvious, so a cynic might argue that we might as well do without it. As a pragmatic and experienced politician, I take the view that this draft resolution illustrates in abundance that our European Parliament and its groups experience the same difficulties as the Commission and the Council in getting to grips with the situation in Iraq. Like the government in my country, I was myself a firm opponent of the invasion in Iraq. In previous capacities, I too have tried to persuade the United States that the invasion of Iraq is one thing, but the establishment of democracy there is something else entirely. I have also stated that invading a country is easy for them, but leaving a country is far more difficult and dangerous. I too take the view that the world today is a much more dangerous place than before the war in Iraq started. The question then arises, though, as to what we in the European Parliament, the European Council, the European Council of Ministers and the European Commission are doing about this much more dangerous place. Do we wash our hands of the whole situation, because we did not want it? Are we hoping – or, if we are religious, praying – that everything will perhaps sort itself out miraculously? Or are we taking refuge in the hopeless prospect of the war of civilisations predicted for so long by many, on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean – sometimes appearing to want it to happen? We are all facing the very difficult task of leaving all of this behind us and of reaching unanimity about the future of Iraq, the Middle East and the world as a whole. Naturally, all hostages, of whatever nationality and whatever they are doing there, must be released immediately, and it goes without saying that we must all commit ourselves to this objective."@en1
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