Madam Speaker, this member's speech and some of those of his colleagues sets my mind back to last September when we debated in this place the tragic events of September 11 last year. I was quite astonished that night to hear, repeatedly, comments directed not so much at the threat posed by international terrorist networks but rather at the concern about the American response to international terrorism. There were all sorts of dire predictions about the unleashed American military monster that was going to create international havoc and invade Afghanistan without international support and so on. Of course none of this came to pass. An international coalition led by the United States removed the tyrannical regime there and I think all of us, particularly the people of Afghanistan, are glad that it did.
My question for the member is this. When he speaks about multilateralism does he not accept that from time to time cumbersome multilateral institutions such as the United Nations do not function? Apparently his government believes this was the case in Kosovo when, for instance, one country, Russia, arguably for its own domestic political purposes, vetoed UN joint action to protect the citizens of Kosovo and consequently a different non-UN coalition of democracies had to intervene, as they did in that instance. Would he not agree with me, at least theoretically, that should the United Nations not live up to its promise and fail to act jointly other responsible democratic nations could work jointly together to ensure that international law in the form of UN resolutions is enforced, that international order and peace are kept and that weapons of mass destruction stay out the hands of this dangerous dictator?