Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-05-14-Speech-3-043"
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"en.20030514.1.3-043"2
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"Mr President, the success of the US operation in Iraq and the speed with which the objective of liberating the country from the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein was achieved, with a relatively low toll of victims, are confirmation of what many had thought, namely that the war was going to be the least difficult part of this operation.
The attack in Riyadh – which is already giving some people, not least in this House, a perverse, ill-concealed sense of satisfaction because they now feel justified in saying ‘We knew there was no point in attacking Iraq’ – is proof that the real war against terrorism is only just starting.
Now starts the phase of reconstructing the country, which has been destroyed and laid waste, and of mending the alliances compromised by the war. With the help of the 10 countries which we have just welcomed into our midst, the European Union must show that is capable of genuine unity.
Of course, it is exciting to see that, after this war which some people still persist in describing as unnecessary, pamphlets, books and newspapers are being sold on the streets of Baghdad which would have led to a prison sentence and torture under Saddam Hussein – or, elsewhere, under Communism.
We will soon be listening to the President of Poland, Mr Kwasniewski, speaking in this House. He and I belong to different political wings, but he has shown himself to be a courageous leader, giving his country’s support for the intervention in Iraq, and this has earned him the criticism of those Heads of State and Government which made the wrong political decision and now find it hard to admit their error.
In his meeting with Mr Chirac and Mr Schröder last week, President Kwasniewski asked for Poland not to be forced to choose between Europe and the United States: it is possible to be the friend of both. We in Parliament must endeavour to be the friends of both as well."@en1
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