Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)

I wish to share time with Deputies Maureen O'Sullivan and Richard Boyd Barrett.

I find it ridiculous, as a new Member, that so few Deputies are present but they must have a funny notion about how the Parliament should work. I am sure none of the 166 Members would stand up for Gadaffi. He has not behaved in a good fashion over a number of years, like many leaders in the region. Sadly, the guns and bombs he is using in his campaign were supplied to him mostly by Britain, France and Italy, the very countries which are keen to drop bombs on the country. It is all very well for these governments to do business with Gadaffi and to speak to him about oil and arms but when it suits them, they will drop bombs on him.

As British Prime Minister, Tony Blair visited Gadaffi in Libya in 2004. Condoleezza Rice visited him as American Secretary of State in 2008 and President Sarkozy visited only two years ago but they have a different agenda now. There are huge inconsistencies in how western powers apply their foreign policy and it is hypocritical that only in the past week 40 civilians were killed by a government supported by western powers in Bahrain while, in Yemen, 52 civilians also lost their lives at the hands of a government that is strongly supported by them. It would be nice if the Government had the courage to point this out.

As Deputy Ó Snodaigh stated, in January 2009, when Israel was allowed to bomb the living daylights out of Palestine for an entire month, president elect Obama sat on the sidelines and said nothing. His argument that he was not allowed to speak out on the issue because he still had not taken up the office of president was blown out of the water when he made comments on two other issues that came up at the same time. It is pretty obvious to most people on the planet how western governments do business. I firmly believe that the idea of dropping bombs on people is not a wonderful way of introducing them to the notion of democracy. Thankfully, the regimes in Tunisia and Egypt are making progress without recourse to bombing by western powers, which is positive, despite the fact that former president Mubarak was given financial and political support by the Americans for more than 30 years. He ran a very corrupt regime, just like Gadaffi.

As Deputy Ó Snodaigh pointed out, in January 2009 when Israel was allowed to bomb the living daylights out of Palestine for an entire month, president elect Obama sat on the sidelines and said nothing. His argument that he was not allowed to speak out on the issue because he still had not taken up the office of president was blown out of the water when he made comments on two other issues that came up at the same time. It is pretty obvious to most people on the planet with how western governments do business. I firmly believe that the idea of dropping bombs on people is not a wonderful way of introducing them to the notion of democracy. Thankfully, the regimes in Tunisian and Egypt are making progress without recourse to bombing by western powers, which is positive, despite the fact that President Mubarak was given financial and political support by the Americans for more than 30 years. He ran a very corrupt regime, just like Gadaffi.

Will issues be taken up with Saudi Arabia, which runs a disappointing system? Many people there suffer persecution but Saudi Arabia is America's main friend in the region and the notion of slapping the country on the wrist does not come into the equation. The Bahraini Government sought Saudi Arabia's help recently to quell civilian unrest. These are people we are supposed to support but there is not a whisper from the American or Irish Governments about this. It would be great if the Government had the honesty to call it as it is. President Sarkozy could not wait to bomb Libya. The same man did not support the unrest in Tunisia and Egypt but with elections coming up in France in 12 months and there being a good chance he will not be re-elected, he has decided that bombing Libya would be a good idea. This resembles what Margaret Thatcher did in the Falklands War many years ago.

It would be very disappointing if the French people fell for such a cynical act on behalf of Sarkozy.

The Irish Government should take note that five of the major powers in the world today - Brazil, Russia, China, India and Germany - have already refused to back this bombardment. We will not cause good things to happen in Libya. We are taking sides in a civil war. We want to see the end of Gadaffi but as Lawrence of Arabia said many years ago to his English counterparts: "Better that the Arabs do it tolerably than that you do it perfectly". It is better that it comes from them than from outside powers. History should have taught us the lesson that interfering in these Arab areas in a military fashion costs us dearly, as the deaths of 1 million civilians in Iraq will testify.

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