Madam Speaker, I have a two part question. The first part is straightforward.
The Minister of National Defence says that Canada believes in standing up and fighting against terrorism. I want to know whether or not he believes that the fight against Iraq and Saddam Hussein is part of that or not. Does he believe that Saddam Hussein is part of a network of terrorism given his past efforts to help finance terrorists, to pay off, to finance terrorists' families who have terrorized Israel and murdered people because they happen to be Jewish? Does he not consider that terrorism and the efforts to get rid of Saddam Hussein as part of that effort?
Second, does the minister not understand that the government essentially has no position at all on Iraq because the government said that it would go to war if the UN Security Council voted yes? If France had not said outright that it would veto no matter what resolution was passed by the United Nations Security Council, then there would have been a vote. If the vote had gone eight to seven in favour of going to war, the Liberal government would have sent Canada's troops to war. If they had voted eight to seven against going to war, we would not go to war.
The government has delegated away its sovereign responsibility to decide whether or not to send troops into battle to the United Nations. That is the government's position. How can that be defended?