David Norris (Independent)

On Tuesday I condemned the action of Israel in targeting Sheikh Yassin because I felt it had breached a barrier. I call for a debate on this issue because another significant barrier has been breached with the use of a 14 year old boy stuffed with explosives as a human bomb. This is a violation of every decent human feeling. What pressure was brought to bear on that boy to allow this to happen? The use of child soldiers is forbidden under every international protocol. It is absolutely obscene that this should be allowed to happen and it must be condemned. It was painful for me to condemn a country I love, Israel, and I expect others now to condemn this action. President Arafat has put his condemnation on the record but I would like to hear condemnation from Islamic clerics also. Sheikh Yassin was described as an Islamic cleric but I have yet to hear one Islamic cleric publicly condemn these suicide bombs. Perhaps the media do not cover those statements.

I also seek a continuation of our valuable discussion of Iraq. Senator O'Toole mentioned George Soros and I will be meeting him in an hour's time. He has incisively illustrated what he describes as the pre-emptive foreign policy of President Bush, which he regards as an aberration. Instead of a debate on Iraq perhaps we could have a debate on terrorism, which we have not done to date. Let us do something new with a debate on terrorism to see who are the real terrorists. Sandy Berger, a former security adviser, Richard Clarke, a registered Republican——