Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-05-14-Speech-3-024"
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"en.20030514.1.3-024"2
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"Mr President, I have to say that I am surprised at how little has been said in this debate about the fact that a people has been liberated, that freedom reigns where terror once did and that Shia clerics are now able to return to Iraq in an atmosphere of religious toleration where once they were murdered. In the last few days we have seen a reminder of the nature of Saddam's regime with the discovery of yet another mass grave.
Too much of the debate has been about apportioning blame for what has happened in the past and too little of it has been about looking forward. Ensuring that Iraq is run by Iraqis for Iraqis should be an absolute priority. The wishes and needs of the Iraqi people should be paramount. It is for that reason that I welcome the draft UN Resolution, which addresses the immediate needs of the Iraqi people. It lifts sanctions: how many people in this Chamber have been calling for that over the last few years? It envisages a political process to put the country back into the hands of the Iraqis with the involvement of a UN special coordinator. It sets up a process to wind up the 'Oil for Food' programme while ensuring that oil can only be sold for the benefit of the Iraqi people and it creates a new fund for the reconstruction and humanitarian needs of Iraq which involves the IMF and the World Bank.
There are of course many problems to be dealt with. We cannot run reconstruction from the top down as if it were a military campaign. We cannot impose systems and procedures dreamed up in Washington and expect them to work. We have to have a bottom-up approach which involves the Iraqi people first and foremost. In order for that to happen, the establishment of security, effective policing and the rule of law should be given absolute priority. My concern is that American troops, unlike British troops, are not equipped for policing action and our priority therefore should be to get police into northern Iraq. We have already seen security established largely in southern Iraq.
My final concern is that there has been no proper discussion on debt reconstruction in Iraq, nor even on who the debt belongs to. Until we resolve these issues there will be no long-term solution for Iraq."@en1
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