Seanad debates
Tuesday, 4 November 2003
Humanitarian Issues in Post-War Iraq: Statements.
There are other ways we can ask the US to show respect for the Iraqi people. The Minister of State rightly pointed out that we are attempting to get more notice taken of UN Security Council Resolution 1511. How can this allow the sale of Iraqi assets, apart from oil and gas? If I was an Iraqi, I would fight myself to stop such action. Iraqis, who have been abroad for the past 20 years, when interviewed on radio and television, ask why they have not been given two to three years so they can buy their own property for themselves. It seems extraordinary that this is allowed. It makes the most reasonable of people fight as they believe that if they do not get rid of the occupying force now, they will have nothing left for themselves. In an interview, Mr. Bremer, when asked if property could be sold to Israel, replied it could. Has he any notion of how this could inflame Iraqis? As such actions are against international law, we can object to them.
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