moved:
That this House do now adjourn.
Mr. Speaker, I requested this emergency debate because I feel very strongly that we are experiencing a profoundly critical situation. I know that the people we have met and consulted with over the past two weeks are as sure as we are that this is a critical and dangerous, or at least worrisome, situation. But for most, it is much more than that.
As parliamentarians we have to be able to talk about it. We also have to vote on the deployment of troops, but that is not the sole purpose of the debate this evening.
I would like to begin by putting this extremely intense time into context. We have seen an inspections process led by the United Nations that works; not perfectly, but satisfactorily enough for both chief weapons inspectors at the United Nations. Saddam Hussein is—albeit for the first time and undoubtedly under the pressure of the forces that are building around Iraq—showing serious signs of cooperation.
The next report by the chief weapons inspector will be made public tomorrow. We do not know yet if it was submitted today to the Security Council. However, the chief inspector has already said he was very interested and quite satisfied.
Yet, despite these results that we were waiting for, the United States, backed by Great Britain and Spain, today told the Security Council that it had today and only today to make a decision to authorize the United States to attack Iraq.
The Security Council is made up of 11 countries, six of which are small countries susceptible to influence, particularly the great economic and financial power of the United States. These small countries resisted, they wanted to support a peaceful process. So, despite what these 11 countries wanted, the United States decided that there was no more role for the Security Council to play.
Yet, and I repeat this, the inspections worked to contain and disarm Saddam Hussein. But clearly, this was not enough for the U.S. administration. It does not seem to matter to the United States that the Security Council has ended up sidelined, even though it is the only body that is capable of taking action, under international law. It does not seem worried about starting a conflict that legal experts say that a conflict instigated against Iraq by the United States, Great Britain and Spain would be not only illegal under international law—this is on an altogether different level—but illegitimate or immoral, based on criteria reflecting public opinion around the world.
It is important to keep in mind that in terms of international law, only legitimate defence can be used as a justification for attacking another country. The United States is not under attack, it has no right to counterattack under section 51, aunlike what happened at the time of the al-Qaeda attacks, which had been supported by Afghanistan.
The Security Council, and only the Security Council, can authorize the use of force in such circumstances. But it has now been sidelined.
The fact that the apparently imminent conflict is illegal in that it contravenes international law is a very serious matter. This conflict is also illegitimate in many regards. The various secret services have confirmed that no evidence of a relationship between al-Qaeda and the regime of Saddam Hussein was found, in spite of investigations.
There is no comparison between the danger posed by Saddam Hussein and the war to be waged on Iraq. We are told that this super powerful army would launch 3,000 bombs against the palaces over a 48-hour period. These bombs may be very precisely guided, but the fact remains that these palaces are located in urban areas.
The NGOs have painted for us, at the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade, the picture of a humanitarian disaster. As far as Canada is concerned, the illegitimacy of this conflict would have been even greater had Canada gotten involved in it without first holding a vote in the House of Commons. Thankfully, and we are proud to say so, this has not been the case.
This has not been talked about a lot in the House, but I want to point out that there is every indication that a humanitarian disaster is anticipated. It is important to know that between 60% and 70% of the Iraqi population of 23 million currently depend for food on the oil for food deal administered by the Iraqi government. Food is distributed on a monthly basis in the form rations by 46,000 stores. The NGOs have told us that in that respect, this despicable dictator is doing a good job.
One million children under the age of five are chronically undernourished and at great risk of dying should the food programs stop. Five million people do not have access to drinking water or basic hygiene. It should be pointed out that following the 1991 attacks, hundreds of thousands of Iraqi, including a large number of children, died because water could no longer be treated for lack of electricity. Drinking water is in short supply. Iraqi people live mainly in urban areas.
I could go on and talk about refugees, whose numbers could be estimated to be as high as 1.4 million, and about the people displaced within their own country, who could be as many as 900,000. There is no mention of the enormous problems that this will cause.
It is not surprising that there were 250,000 protesters in Montreal, I am proud to say, on Saturday, according to the organizers. I was there. There were many protesters throughout Quebec: 18,000 in Quebec City, 2,500 in Rimouski, 4,000 in Trois Rivières, Gatineau, the Gaspé Peninsula, Baie-Comeau, and I may be forgetting others. People had a purpose in getting together. It was to show their opposition to an illegal and illegitimate war.
Quebec's national assembly voted unanimously in favour of a resolution. Quebec sides with international public opinion. There were also protests in the rest of Canada. They were, however, not as big. This was also true in other parts of the world, although certainly not in Milan, where there were over 600,00 protesters. People may seem discouraged and a bit depressed given the American offensive, which ignores public pressure.
It should be stressed that, in response to the attack the world's superpower would like to launch, there have been signs of an international public opinion which is still a delicate counterbalance, but is a new phenomenon that has not been seen until now and that owes its existence to the new methods of communication.
This movement experiences the same situations with the same information at the same moment. This is the positive side of globalization. This is the positive expression of this globalization, an expression of hope.
What huge wrong is the Bush administration doing to the American people? In what ways do they need their friends and what will they need from their friends after this attack? There are many reasons, including the fact that they will need to ensure that international order does not collapse.
To this end, it is important to state that the Security Council, despite our fear that it will be considered impotent from this day forward, did, in fact, show strength, an ability to lead an international debate, to discuss and come up with new means of keeping world order.
We have experienced many wonderful moments, but now we are stunned.
What are the objectives of the United States—I should say the American administration, because they should not be confused. What are their objectives? Links with al-Qaeda—as I said—could not be established. That was their first objective. Then they said it was the destruction of weapons of mass destruction. But there is no better way to destroy these weapons than through the inspections. Even Secretary of State Colin Powell was contradicted by the inspectors. The American administration came back to the links with al-Qaeda, saying it feared that Iraq's weapons of mass destruction were being supplied to or stolen by terrorist groups or by al-Qaeda even though between 1998 and four months ago, Iraq did no such thing.
Then there was the report that Great Britain plagiarized, which contained data from 1991. That is all I will say about that.
What is the objective of the American administration? Regime change. I will not repeat the Prime Minister's very sensible words from when he was in Mexico or on ABC. But why change the regime?
Some have said that control of this second largest oil reserve in the world is one of the objectives, if not the prime objective of the American administration. I do not agree. I think it is a major objective, but not the prime objective. However, I know that this is what a large number of Iraqis think.
So, what is the prime objective? It seems to me that the prime objective is the document entitled “The National Security Strategy of the United States of America”, which was prepared under the direction of Ms. Condoleezza Rice.
According to this document, the United States, in these new times in which we are living since September 11, and also since the 20th century, has a new take on the situation.
Here are a few excepts from the document:
Defending our Nation against its enemies is the first and fundamental commitment of the Federal Government.
They are referring to the U.S. government here.
Today, that task has changed dramatically. Enemies in the past needed great armies and great industrial capabilities to endanger America. Now, shadowy networks of individuals can bring great chaos and suffering to our shores for less than it costs to purchase a single tank. Terrorists are organized to penetrate open societies and to turn the power of modern technologies against us.
The text concludes as follows:
Freedom is the non-negotiable demand of human dignity; the birthright of every person—in every civilization. Throughout history, freedom has been threatened by war and terror; it has been challenged by the clashing wills of powerful states and the evil designs of tyrants; and it has been tested by widespread poverty and disease. Today, humanity holds in its hands the opportunity to further freedom’s triumph over all these foes. The United States welcomes our responsibility to lead in this great mission.
The United States, through its administration, wants to present the world with a hegemony, and holds the naive belief that democracy can be won with bayonets. Yet this attack on Iraq might well have the opposite effect, unfortunately.
Will this attack on Iraq convince North Korea? Perhaps it will spur it to quickly arm itself with nuclear weapons in order to gain some respect. Will it convince the international terrorist groups? On the contrary, that this attack on Iraq may well create a desire in young people to sacrifice their lives for objectives which they may not properly understand, but which the situation may encourage them to espouse.
As I said, the United States will be needing friends it respects and will need to accept that those friends can be totally opposed to their strategy. Far from leading to progress in the fight against terrorism, a commitment made repeatedly in this House, this strategy may very well hinder that fight, and involve us instead in a clash of civilizations, which we reject with all our strength.
In these, the dawning years of the new century, it is imperative for the international community to tell this superpower that might does not make right, that the only international law that exists is expressed by the institutions we know, the only ones that can save the world from anarchy.