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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 1 Hansard (19 February) . . Page.. 235 ..

MR PRATT (continuing):

Mr Speaker, thousands of Iraqis have died monthly for 12 years, many as a result of Saddam denying his people the UN's fundamental "food and medicine for oil"aid relief. Many, many more have been and continue to be murdered in order that the reign of terror be maintained. Do not blame the United Nations-or in fact the United States-for these deaths. Sanctions are currently essential for minimising the development-note that I say "minimising"not "eradicating"-of weapons of mass destruction. Saddam has denied the full flow of aid in order to maximise his chances of manipulating the black market in order to illegally export oil and obtain materiel for the production of weapons of mass destruction. To do this he has refused unfettered aid to his people. Therefore, he is responsible for the deaths of the frail and the young.

Ms Tucker proposes a continuation of the weapons inspection. What she proposes is the 18th chance for Saddam. That is what is more important for Ms Tucker-a chance for Saddam but no chance for the Iraqis. Mr Speaker, those who would have Saddam given another chance would be told by my Iraqi friends that Saddam is playing them for a mug. They are merely buying Saddam time and helping Saddam to drive his wedge more deeply into the west.

Ms Tucker baldly states there is no clear evidence that Saddam poses a threat. What a joke. My friends are adamant that Saddam strives mightily to keep intact his weapons of mass destruction. After power, that is all he worships. While the jury may be out on whether or not Saddam is formally tied to al-Qaeda , he has certainly used the services of and provided safe haven for Hezbellah Kurd, an Islamic fundamentalist group with a bloody record in the north who are known to have links with al-Qaeda.

I have experienced this liaison between Saddam and Hezbellah Kurd. When they attacked me and my staff in April 1994 at Kumul, close to Halabja, they were supported by both Iranian and Iraqi political and military forces. They were then sometimes called Ansar Al Islami, depending on what organisation or configuration they were adopting at the time and which sub-elements had attached or detached. You have to know the Byzantine nature of shifting alliances in that region, indeed the Middle East as a whole, to get your thoughts around who is with whom and what their objectives are.

The point I am making is that you ignore the potential or the likelihood that Saddam already has established occasional ties with al-Qaeda. You ignore that at your own peril; we ignore that at our peril. This amounts to a clear and present danger, both for the region and internationally. It is well documented that there are those who would carry and use weapons of mass destruction against this nation without the flicker of emotion. This is more likely to impact on "the health and wellbeing of the Canberra community"-to quote the words of Ms Tucker's motion-than the opposite proposition that Ms Tucker proposes.

Mr Speaker, security, defence and other trained and experienced risk analysis people will tell you that even were we to assess the forging-

Ms Tucker: Point of order, Mr Speaker. Can I just draw attention-

MR PRATT: of Saddam and his weapons of mass destruction with al-Qaeda-

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