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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 4 Hansard (1 April) . . Page.. 1166 ..
MR SMYTH (continuing):
The UN has found itself powerless in the face of the obdurate determination of the world's only real super power to have its way. The UN has lost the respect of many who would support it.
That could equally read, "The UN has found itself powerless in the face of the obdurate determination of the world's only real monster, Saddam Hussein. The UN has lost the respect of many who would support it."
The US has been found to be powerless in the face of Saddam Hussein-10 years and 17 resolutions prove it. Mr Stanhope goes on to say:
Our actions have mocked the United Nations and held in contempt the very essence of democracy and sovereignty.
What has Saddam Hussein said and done for so many years? Mr Stanhope goes on to say:
Make no mistake-we are at war, with all its full gore, its indiscriminate toll of death and destruction and its permanent legacy of trauma, despair and anger.
He is right-we are! But where was the outrage when Saddam was torturing, gassing and murdering hundreds of thousands of his own people? There was none. The world, in many cases, stood back and let it happen.
The other person I would quote from is an Iraqi woman, whose name I will not use, who I met at Harmony Day at the Canberra Centre the other day, where the Chief Minister spoke. I said to this woman, "You are Iraqi-how do you feel?"She said, "My heart is against it. I have family and friends in Baghdad. I do not want them hurt, but my head says this must happen because, unless it happens, nothing will ever change in Iraq. That is the point, Mr Speaker-nothing is going to change in Iraq, and that is the problem.
The Chief Minister goes on:
It is never too late to do the right thing. Being halfway through a wrong act and deciding to carry it through to completion will never make it right.
That is on the assumption that what is occurring is the wrong thing. But that is the problem, isn't it? The problem is that this was not completed in 1991, when commitments were given to democracy; commitments were given to disarm; commitments were given to better the lives of the people of Iraq-and it did not happen.
What does the head of the Multicultural Council say? The article continues:
"Of Kurdish descent, and with no reason to support Saddam, Mr Amari said the United States have made a grave mistake by allowing him to survive the 1991 Gulf War.
Now he is like a god, his power has increased.
"This monster has to go."
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