Mr. Speaker, this provides me with the opportunity to say that, even at the Council of Europe, in the text that I wrote, I was pleased with what the minister said about pre-emptive strikes. However, I want to repeat that by supporting a new UN security council resolution providing that, should Iraq fail to comply, action will be taken, the minister is allowing those who might want to do so to say “This should not be done”.
I think that he is doing himself, and the positions that he has taken, a lot of harm. This is the first point.
Second, as regards Chamberlain and 1938, a comparison is not possible. While Saddam Hussein may be a despicable dictator—and the idea is not to make comparisons—the situation is not at all the same. Saddam Hussein is the leader of a country with a population of 25 million. This country has been under an embargo for 12 years, and we know that its military capabilities are extremely limited. As regards pre-emptive strikes, I read everything I could. There are possibilities and capabilities, but that is all.
When one compares this to everything that is going on elsewhere, all the other dictators, all those other countries that have means that they could provide terrorists with, why is there such a rush now and why use this type of pre-emptive strike that would thrust us back into another era?