Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-11-16-Speech-3-020"
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"en.20051116.3.3-020"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, democracy is not a mere exercise in style, but requires roots that have not yet been put down in Iraq. Let us finally take a close look at the real situation. The Kurds turned out to vote because they glimpsed independence for their province on the horizon; the Shi’a did so to obey their religious leaders; and the few Sunni who voted did so to avoid being completely sidelined in the reorganisation of the country.
The basic conditions needed to allow democracy to put down roots are economic security, a state apparatus that works and equality for all citizens under the law. The reality is that the project to export democracy on the wings of fighter-bombers has failed and the Western powers’ military occupation of the country now stands in the way of any solid, tangible progress.
From another perspective, Iraq has become an exporting country, and not just of oil. The attacks in Jordan are proof: Iraq now exports its terrorism. The suicide bombers who blew themselves up were in fact Iraqis. A woman who was supposed to take part in the attacks but survived has explained that her family was decimated during the American offensives in the Sunni triangle. Therefore, I too strongly call for a UN investigation into the use of banned white phosphorus bombs by the American forces.
Iraq is thus looking dangerously like another Afghanistan. President Bush wanted to fight the terrorists in Afghanistan so that he would not have to do so elsewhere, but today the terrorists already are elsewhere, and we wonder just how far they will go. Europe thus has to face two challenges, namely the obtuseness of those who still claim that the Iraqi campaign has been a success, and the murderous determination of those who demonstrate every day that it has been a tragic failure.
To find a way out of this morass, we need neither propaganda nor comforting stories, but clear-headedness and brave statesmen who can acknowledge their mistakes and sketch out a new strategy, a strategy for peace."@en1
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