Madam Speaker, as the conflict between our closest allies and Saddam Hussein intensifies, Canada must take a position that is grounded in our national interests, in the interests of our allies and in the interests of peace and security everywhere, a peace which Saddam Hussein threatens daily.
The Canadian Alliance leader, the leader of Canada's official opposition, has presented a thoughtful, careful and meaningful basis for the necessary strategic and moral position relating to Iraq. It answers two important questions. First, what is Canada's own strategic interest in the conflict and its outcome? Second, what does our moral compass tell us? The answer to both these questions is clear.
Canada's only strategically wise and morally tenable position and course is to stand with our allies against Saddam Hussein, a ruthless dictator and an outspoken enemy of all we hold dear. He is a serial aggressor, a deceiver with a heart of hatred and he must not be allowed to unleash that hatred as he has in the past. Specifically this means Canada must do two things.
First and most immediately Canada must lobby the Security Council delegations to pass a resolution with definitive consequences for any Iraqi non-compliance with weapons inspections.
Iraq promised again today to grant UN weapons inspectors unfettered access. That is no reason to be complaisant. It was just two weeks ago that Saddam's forces were caught on tape firing missiles at British and U.S. pilots who were conducting flyovers that were mandated by the Security Council. Saddam has a proven record of deceit. If the Security Council's resolution is toothless the world may pay a terrible price.
Second, Canada must keep its options open. While the United Nations is the preferred route, Canada's decision to act should be predicated on our own national interest and moral sensibilities and not solely on the permission of an international body. The United Nations tragic failure to respond to clear warnings of the horrendous 1994 Rwandan genocide is a grim reminder that that international body is not infallible.
If Iraq fails to comply with weapons inspections or is shown to be threatening in other ways, Canada must join the growing multilateral coalition to make it clear that there will be consequences. Israel, Qatar, the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia have all committed to play a role and Canada must not be left behind. In the event of a conflict between Saddam Hussein and our closest friends, it would be strategically unwise and morally untenable for Canada to remain neutral.
Our opinion is based on the strategic interests of Canada, also on the interests of our allies and on the interests of peace and public safety.
The United States and Great Britain are our allies. We share an historic border with the United States and an historic Commonwealth with Great Britain.
That means we have to carry our weight with our allies in confronting international threats and a menace to peace like Saddam Hussein. It is in Canada's security interest to support our allies. A threat to our democratic allies around the world is indeed a threat to Canada.
Just consider Iraq's desire and its capacity to threaten Canada and our friends. We need to look no further than Canada's own intelligence reports. On February 25, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service reported that the threat was clear and imminent. I quote:
In February 1999, the [International Atomic Energy Agency] had charged Iraq with denying...evidence that Iraq had terminated its nuclear weapon program. It had added that it was prudent to assume that Iraq “has retained documents of its clandestine nuclear program, specimens of important components and possibly amounts of nonenriched uranium,” and “retains the capability to explore, for nuclear weapons purposes, any relevant material or technology to which it may gain access in the future”.
Weapons inspectors have not visited Iraq since this grave warning was issued. It gets worse. I quote again from another CSIS document:
Independent experts, including former Iraqi nuclear scientist Khidir Hamza (who defected in 1994), have asserted that “Since the war, Iraq is suspected of having made progress on a number of bottlenecks in its weapon program,” including “design work, laboratory efforts, subcomponent production...
Even if weapons inspectors are granted access, the report indicates that Saddam may still be able to hide his toys of terror. The CSIS report quotes independent experts related to biological terror, and we need to be mindful of these. I quote:
The Iraqi government in August 1995 admitted to having produced 19,000 litres of botulinum toxin (BTX), 8,500 litres of anthrax, and 2,400 litres of the cancer-producing agent aflatoxin; to have loaded BTX and anthrax on Scud missile warheads and aerial bombs; and to have conducted research on mycotoxins and infectious viruses.
These reports are corroborated by similar analyses done by the German intelligence service along with the recent exhaustive report from Great Britain on this area, a report which our Minister of National Defence admitted to not having read.
The danger is undeniable. We are aware of Saddam's aggressive designs for his neighbours, particularly our democratic ally, Israel, and we know of his hatred for our neighbours. Indeed we know it is not beyond him to share his weapon stockpiles with terrorists who would gladly attack our neighbours or us. Our own intelligence proves all of this. The threat he poses to our closest economic, political and military allies, and possibly to ourselves, makes Saddam a strategic enemy of ours.
Some argue that even though Saddam poses a major security threat, international norms prohibit pre-emptive action against him. That is something we have heard tonight. This thinking is not based upon historic reality and in fact is reckless. Imagine if Israel had not taken the courageous step to pre-emptively strike Iraq's nuclear program in the early 1980s. Where would the world be today if Israel had wavered and Saddam had triumphed in developing and using those nuclear weapons? Where would the world be if the multilateral coalition of 1998 had not intervened to strike Saddam's key weapons facilities?
The Prime Minister of Canada at that time rightly agreed to support our allies in that pre-emptive strike without an additional Security Council mandate. The only thing that has changed between 1998 and now is that Saddam Hussein has had more years without inspection to cultivate his weapons program.
Again, Saddam Hussein is a serial aggressor with a heart of hatred even against his own people. That was exposed when he gassed to death 5,000 of his own citizens. He is against millions of his own citizens who live in odious poverty while he, a $6 billion dictator, rates as one of the richest men on earth.
The noted historian, A.J. Taylor, in his intellectually formidable and universally acclaimed The Origins of the Second World War , makes a sobering observation. He says, and I quote, “Hitler, an alert opportunist... Would not have rearmed if he had believed that the allies would have forcibly prevented him...”
The words of Edmund Burke are appropriate at this time, “All that has to happen for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing”. We do not want war, but we also do not want the unthinkable tragedy of Saddam Hussein realizing his evil dreams and unleashing a nightmare upon us or our allies.
Our government must urge Security Council members to pass and enforce a resolution with teeth. If the United Nations fails and Saddam persists, Canada must join the growing allied coalition to make it clear to Saddam Hussein that non-compliance is a direct threat to peace and security and it will have consequences. It is our political and strategic interest to do this. It is also our moral imperative.