Seanad debates
Friday, 21 March 2003
Foreign Conflicts: Motion.
I turn to the Minister of State's speech. I feel sorry for this Minister of State because he is a decent man but it is a disgrace that he was supplied with this awful piece of mealy-mouthed hand-wringing. He quoted Dr. Blix. Dr. Blix made it perfectly clear that he wanted more time and that his mission was succeeding. In the period under United Nations supervision, Iraq destroyed 817 of 819 prescribed medium range missiles, 14 launchers, nine trailers and 56 missile launch sites. It also destroyed 73 of 75 chemical or biological warheads and 163 warheads for conventional use. UN inspectors also supervised the destruction of 88,000 filled and unfilled chemical munitions, more than 600 tonnes of weaponised and bulk chemical weapons agents, 4,000 tonnes of precursor chemicals and 980 pieces of equipment considered key to the production of such weapons. More weaponry was destroyed under the regime of the arms inspectors than in the last little Bush escapade. Let us bear this in mind.
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