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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 1 Hansard (19 February) . . Page.. 271 ..

Mr Cornwell: He brought that on himself!

Ms Tucker: I actually heard Mr Blair arguing that the other night, too. Mr Blair was saying, "Look, it is Saddam Hussein's fault that these hundreds of thousands of children have died because he could have done something."But what Mr Blair would not say is that, if the economic sanctions weren't there, that would not have happened. No responsibility is taken by Blair for that. It is just blame shifting.

I also want to respond to Mr Stefaniak. I don't know if I heard properly, but I think he said 20,000-odd civilians-can I get clarification?

Mr Stefaniak: He gassed 25,000 people with unknown chemical weapons.

MS TUCKER: Okay, he gassed 25,000 people in Iraq after the Gulf War. Let me give you the figures that came out of this well-referenced report-I have tabled it in this place previously, so I do not need to do it again, and you are all aware of it-which has footnotes and references for the statistics that are here.

The most reliable estimates of Iraqi military deaths during the war range from 50,000 to 100,000. When 3,500 to 15,000 civilian deaths are added, the short-term Iraqi death toll is in the range of 53,500 to 135,000. Military sources estimate the number of wounded at three times the number of deaths.

This would suggest a total of at least 300,000 wounded Iraqi combatants. It goes on:

An estimated 110,000 civilians died in 1991 from the health effects of the war, bringing the total number of Iraqis who died as a direct consequence of the Gulf War to around 205,000. The health of many more was weakened in the longer term. Many people were internally displaced, 750,000 remain so today and around 9,000 homes were destroyed or damaged.

The United Nations is now predicting at least 500,000 casualties if this war occurs in Iraq. We are hearing people talking about the tragedy of what has happened in Iraq. I do not disagree that there has been a tragedy in Iraq, but to impose another war on Iraq is not going to solve that problem. It is going to cause ongoing problems for Iraq because-I mentioned this in my original presentation but I will mention it again-knowing the devastation to the environment around Iraq and the devastation of their capacity to have a society that works means this has to be seen as a totally negative enterprise. I thank members for their support tonight.

Question put:

That the motion, as amended, be agreed to.

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