Labhrás Ó Murchú (Fianna Fail)

I, too, wish to support the call for a debate on Iraq. In the early stages of that conflict, Members of this House opposed the invasion and pointed out clearly that some of us felt it was illegal. We now know the reasons given were based on lies. The invasion did not have the imprimatur of the United Nations at that time.

At the time, some people may even have projected the idea that in some way we were anti-American. This was absolute nonsense. It is now evident we were reflecting the views of the American people, as the majority are now questioning the continued occupation of Iraq. They are questioning the number of deaths which is enormous but to aggravate matters, they see the worsening situation in the world.

One does not require a great deal of common sense to see that if young Muslims, in particular, view as we do the hypocrisy, lies, mayhem, destruction and vested interests, we are creating a breeding ground for terrorism in the future. One can well ask why that should concern this Chamber or Ireland. We are now talking about global terrorism. No matter how small or how weak the voice, it is important we put that on record now. Senior Republicans are now coming out of the woodwork in America. It is not just the Democrats anymore. There is some focus on changing the endgame. We should now be independent. In fairness to the Government, I believe it has done a good job in this regard but we should express independent views now to focus in the right direction and not just consider political and economic expediency vis-À-vis the big powers of the world.