Labhrás Ó Murchú (Fianna Fail)

It is absolutely vital that we take a stand on issues like this. The question now in people's minds is whether it is a mater of replacing one brutal regime with another. The time has come for American and British soldiers to leave Iraq and for the United Nations to bring some semblance of order to that country. I do not believe, no matter how friendly we are with a country, that we can stand over what we have said. One honourable retired senior army officer said: "What we went in to stop we are now doing ourselves and we will have a big price to pay for this." We know that whatever happens in Iraq will reverberate throughout the world and will impact on all of us at some time. None of us is immune to that. It is vital for the House to take a stand. The Minister for Foreign Affairs should be invited to come before the House for a debate on the matter.