Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-03-26-Speech-3-070"
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"en.20030326.5.3-070"2
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"Mr President, I speak on behalf of the British Conservative delegation at a time when a war is being fought in Iraq – on all our behalves – to remove a threat to our own people and to lift a tyrant from the backs of the Iraqis. What a disgrace it is that there are so many apologists for Saddam Hussein in this Chamber. Listening to them I now understand the concept of the big lie.
I want to pay tribute to the British, American and other armed forces engaged in Iraq and express my condolences to those families of our servicemen that have suffered loss. My own constituency of East Anglia has lost Tornado aircrew from Royal Air Force Marham in Norfolk. The Colchester-based 16 Air Assault Brigade is also very much in the front line of the conflict, along with units from all over the United Kingdom.
We acknowledge the strong moral and practical support for the coalition from the governments of Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Bulgaria and so many other European countries. However, this is a conflict which could have been avoided had the international community spoken with genuine resolve and made it clear to Saddam that it was united in its determination to disarm his regime with speed.
I have to say that the poisonous thread that has run through the diplomatic manoeuvrings in the run-up to the Iraq war has been anti-Americanism. It is this same vitriolic anti-Americanism which inspires so many in this House and elsewhere to try to build separate EU structures to replace those in which our American friends have a key role. I am thinking particularly of the European security and defence policy, which is not about security but about the trappings of the EU State. It creates no additional military capabilities, just duplicative and divisive structures from which important allies are deliberately excluded.
This is a time when we should be doing just the opposite. When the conflict in Iraq is over, North Americans and like-minded Europeans must make the necessary political and material commitments to revitalise the transatlantic alliance before it is too late. We need to rebuild a western strategic culture."@en1
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