Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2014-07-16-Speech-3-264-000"
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"en.20140716.19.3-264-000"2
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"Mr President, Iraq bears the hallmarks and scars of the misguided intervention of Western nations. This has been nothing short of scandalous. With scant consideration for the obvious failings of the Sykes-Picot Agreement nearly 100 years ago, we poked this hornet’s nest with a very sharp stick before embarking on regime change. Most would agree that Saddam’s treatment of the Iraqi people, not least the Marsh Arabs and the Kurds, underlined his warped approach to humanity. However, I believe that the second Gulf War was fought on the premise of preparing for victory and not, as has now been proved, for life after that victory.
Yes, the senior Ba’athist elements in Iraq had to be removed, but what followed was the greatest foreign policy failing of modern times, namely the US-led decision to dismantle the Iraqi army after the fall of Saddam. At the stroke of a pen, this Sunni-led army, with vast combat experience and access to an immense arsenal, was side-lined. In a short space of time, this led to the birth of the militias and the bloody insurgency. Those militias have now become the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) or their allies.
The Iraqi Prime Minister, whose role is to unify Iraq, has achieved exactly the opposite. Nouri al-Maliki has shown himself to be completely unfit for purpose, underlining a terrible lack of character judgment on the part of Western leaders. As Iraq stands on the brink of splitting into three, al-Maliki still clearly ignores the Sunnis and the Kurds, so the world holds its breath and prays.
The British
newspaper reports that around 1 500 British Muslims have fought alongside ISIS. EU open borders mean that terrorists can move into Europe and make their way to any part of the continent, potentially to wage terrorist campaigns. Late last year the UK Borders Agency complained that EU rules banned them from collecting data on travellers within the European Union, data which the intelligence services could have used to spot security risks.
ISIS has looted USD 400 million from banks and financial institutions in northern Iraq, making them the world’s richest terrorist group.
This conflict could destabilise the whole region and, by extension, the world. The threat of ISIS must be a stark warning to us all. When decisions are to be made, they must be made with as much input as possible from across the Middle East, via the United Nations and by the authority of the United Nations alone.
Britain mistakenly went to war in Iraq, too, because of Tony Blair’s ‘dodgy dossier’, and the world has become a far more dangerous place as a result. One hundred and seventy-nine brave British service personnel made the ultimate sacrifice and many more have suffered both physical and mental scars which they will have to carry for the rest of their lives. I pay tribute to them now. Neither I nor my party want to see another single drop of British blood spilled in either Iraq or Syria."@en1
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