Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-03-01-Speech-4-027"
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"en.20010301.1.4-027"2
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"Mr President, we should remind ourselves as Mr Van Orden has done why we have these no-fly zones in the first place. They are simply to restrict Saddam Hussein’s ability to kill and terrorise his own people. The no-fly zones are in support of Security Council Resolution No 688 which demanded an end to his brutal repression. They are justified under international law as a legitimate response to prevent a grave humanitarian crisis. Without them, we would have seen the continued brutal repression of the Shias and the Kurds. We would have seen once again as we saw in 1991, the use of helicopter gunships and aircraft to murder, to gas and to displace. So the no-fly zones are vital in avoiding humanitarian disaster. Yet those enforcing the no-fly zones have themselves come under constant attack. Since January 1999 there have been 1 200 attempts to target aircraft with surface-to-air missiles or anti-aircraft weapons. This year alone, there have already been more attacks than there were in the whole of the year 2000.
The coalition aircraft are legally authorised to respond to these attacks in self-defence, and they have done so entirely in accordance with international law, attacking only those units which are threatening them. We cannot allow the pilots who are trying to protect humanity to be themselves endangered. That would be irresponsible, and would also be a betrayal of them.
Finally, on sanctions, we should not forget a simple message: the sanctions are not causing the suffering of the Iraqi people. Saddam Hussein is causing the suffering, as he has done from the day he came to power, and it is entirely in Saddam Hussein’s hands to lift those sanctions, by meeting the requirements that the UN are making on him."@en1
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