Mr. Speaker, a trend is developing here tonight among most of the speakers from the Liberal backbench, which I find very troublesome. There has been far greater criticism of the policy of the United States, our ally and the leading democracy of the world, than there has been of the tyrannical, dangerous and aggressive regime in Iraq. I find this very peculiar.
I think that is in contradistinction to the fairly balanced remarks of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who certainly made it very clear that, in the view of the Government of Canada, Iraq is to blame for the current situation in Iraq and that the solution lies with Iraq on whether or not it will finally comply with the 14 outstanding United Nations resolution.
I have two questions for the member. First, he asked whether the Bush administration was targeting Iraq to direct attention from its failure to succeed in the war on terrorism. Is he not aware that the principal American strategic interest in this matter is to avoid having a rogue state such as Iraq provide terrorist networks with weapons of mass destruction which they then can use against the United States, its allies and its interests in a way that is discreet, a way that is difficult to trace back to a state sponsor such as Iraq?
Does the member have any concern whatsoever that left untouched a state such as Iraq, which has demonstrated the power to produce many of these weapons, could use terrorist networks to deliver them to places like Israel or the United States?
Second, how does the member respond to the incontrovertible fact that his government and Prime Minister supported military strikes, which he, I guess, would characterize as unilateral military strikes, by the United States air force and the royal air force against Iraq in 1998 without the coverage of a specific United Nations resolution? How does he square that precedent policy of his government with the position that he articulates this evening?