Joe McHugh (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and I welcome the opportunity to speak on this important issue. We first debated this matter in May of last year and we should continue to do so to keep up-to-date, focus and undertake research in this area.

CNN and Fox News broadcast a simplified version of the Iraq war as a war on terror whereas Senator Norris believes the war was about oil and money. An in-depth examination of any war will reveal multiple root causes rather than one simplistic cause; the same is the case for the war in Iraq. It is easy for organisations like CNN and Fox News to come up with a simplified focus because they want to ingrain a message in the subconscious of their audience, which they seem to have achieved in regard to the vast majority of the population in the United States.

The multiple causes of war include ethnic-cultural, ideological, economic, territorial and environmental factors. We must keep an open mind as to what caused this war, as well as examining all the causes involved. This is especially so given the experience of war in this country. We should be mindful of the important point raised by Senator Minihan, namely, how numb we have become in regard to the news reports of war.

Living in Donegal, I am often subjected to BBC and UTV news reports. On a daily basis throughout the 1980s, I was subjected to news reports about booby-trap bombs, incendiary devices and Protestants, Catholics and British soldiers being killed. To be honest, one develops an immunity to that type of news. There is a probably an explanation for this, although I do not know whether it is a natural human condition. As Senator Minihan explained, one becomes numb to certain news which is what happened to us in Ireland with regard to people being killed, bombed and shot. We took it for granted that this was a way of life and what we had to deal with. The same has happened with regard to the situation in Iraq in that it is no longer news. The entire world media was located in Iraq this time last year and right through the summer. Subsequently it focused on the US for the elections there, and then on the countries affected by the tsunami. The current media reports from Iraq are minimal and concerned with British and American soldiers being killed there. The coverage is maintained as low-key. It is important that we as legislators and politicians keep the debate going because we will not get transparent viewpoints if we rely on the world media.

The Iraq war cannot be considered in isolation. We must look at the conflict in Afghanistan and the motivation of the US in that regard, which relates to Afghanistan's centrality. It is a strategic and central location of which the US is very mindful in terms of access to oil and gas reserves. I am not saying this on a whim, because evidence exists to support this assertion. In 1999 the US National Security Council noted:

The United States will continue to have a vital interest in ensuring access to foreign oil supplies . . . we must continue to be mindful of the need for regional stability and security in key producing areas to ensure our access to, and the free flow of, these resources.

Afghanistan is also part of the Iraqi debate. It posits the territorial argument as a cause of war and a fundamental part of the overall debate regarding the Middle and Far East. There is vital economic interest in respect of US companies building gas pipelines in Afghanistan. Legitimate trade is taking place in the central location of Afghanistan in terms of oil and gas supplies. However, Americans focus on the issue of illegitimate trade of narcotics and arms of which we must also be conscious.

The situation in Iraq has generated much interest. The outcome of the American elections proves that Americans are divided on the issue. The same was proven in respect of the UK elections which showed the British are also divided. We are mature enough in that the debate has evolved and we are neither pro nor anti-American because America is split down the middle in terms of its opinion on Iraq. We meet US citizens all over the world and here in our own country. I have considerable contact with quite a number of Americans through politics and also with those who have come to live here. A large percentage of Americans are nomadic in nature. Many of those I meet are embarrassed by the situation in Iraq and by President George W. Bush. They refer to him as an idiot. On the other hand, there are people sitting in houses in Ohio who think he is a great man and world leader. This divided opinion was reflected in the votes.

On the matter of oil reserves, in 1980 former US President Jimmy Carter declared that any attempt by hostile powers to cut off Persian Gulf oil supplies would be regarded as an assault on the vital interests of the US. This relates to the environmental needs in respect of gas and oil supplies.