Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-07-06-Speech-3-035"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20050706.2.3-035"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
".
Mr President, may I through you thank all Members of the European Parliament for a very constructive debate, which has been very interesting for me as well. Of course, it is right in one sense to say you cannot discuss the future without understanding the past, and there are different analyses of the past. I happen to think that war was justified at the time. I still do. I respect those who take a different view.
What I would say, however, is this: we can argue – and we will argue for a long time – about the legitimacy of the military action, but please do not now argue about the legitimacy of what is a democratically elected Iraqi Government. There were some speakers who challenged the legitimacy of the current government. With respect, that is wrong. The elections that took place on 30 January took place under a United Nations mandate, under intense international scrutiny. They were fair elections: 8.6 million Iraqis voted, and they produced a representative assembly which now has instructions from the United Nations to bring forward a draft constitution in August and to have it ratified in a referendum in October for there to be further elections leading to a more permanent national government in December. I suggest that it is responsibility of the whole of the international community, in support of that unanimous United Nations mandate, to ensure that this process works and works effectively. I am deeply grateful to the Commission and to the Parliament for the support that they are giving to that process.
Yes, the situation in Iraq today is serious. Yes, too many are being killed, but I would remind those who describe it simply as some kind of legitimate resistance that the overwhelming majority of the victims of this terrorism are not coalition forces, they are ordinary Iraqis. I would also remind colleagues here that in many – not all – areas of Iraq there is a fair degree of normality. There have been very few incidents. Why? Because the terrorism there has been defeated. Where there is abnormality, it is because of the terrorism. I am not naive. I accept that, where there is this level of terrorism, there has to be a political process to try to bring people in as well as an immediate security response. It is a matter of great regret that most Sunnis decided not to participate in the elections in January.
What has happened since – and Commissioner Ferrero-Waldner and I met representatives of the Sunni community and discussed the matter with members of the Shia and Kurdish communities – is an effort by the Iraqi Government to bring Sunnis in. It has been difficult but, just two days ago, the National Assembly decided to confirm the representation of 15 Sunnis on the constitutional committee. That is of profound importance, a first step in reaching out to the Sunni community. There have to be other steps taken as well, so you end up with an Iraq that represents all the communities.
The other thing I would say is that any analysis of opinion in Iraq suggests that, despite the violence today, most Iraqis prefer what has happened and is happening today to what was going on before. And yes, there was terrorism before the war: it was state terrorism that led to the death of hundreds of thousands of ordinary Iraqis. And no – hundreds of thousands have not been killed since the war, some scores of thousands have been. It is too many, but at least now the Iraqis can look forward to a democratic, peaceful future in which they control their destiny, which they never could under Saddam.
There have been arguments within Europe as elsewhere about this situation in Iraq. Given those, we greatly welcome the very constructive approach adopted by Mr Dimitrakopoulos and his committee. I thank you very much for that. I know, given the range of opinions, that it was a very hard task to bring together a sense of this and of action for the future. It is well illustrated by today’s debate. I am grateful to Mr Dimitrakopoulos and also to the Commission.
For our part, in the Presidency, we will do all we can over the next six months actively to support the work of the European Union as well as accepting our own responsibilities within Iraq as one of the contributors to the Coalition."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples