Labhrás Ó Murchú (Fianna Fail)

Those of us who set out our stalls from day one and opposed the invasion of Iraq believed we were reflecting the decency and fair-mindedness of the American people. This has been borne out by the results of the mid-term elections in the United States in recent days. What happened in those terrible years was immoral and unjustified. The question now is, where do we go from here? We must first recognise that the right leadership was not provided to the American people. There was flawed leadership very often based on misrepresentation and even on lies.

It is important at this stage to focus on the future. What does the future hold? We must take this as an opportunity. It is not a matter of saying "I told you so". There is an opportunity now for the diplomats to take over from the hawks.

Members must also accept — as must America — the independence and sovereignty of each individual nation. We cannot impose our concept of democracy on such countries. If we do not take these steps, we will encounter the same problems again. Although America has been a beneficial force in the past, it has been repeatedly demonstrated that it cannot act as the policeman for the entire world. It is vital that vested interests do not drive foreign policy in respect of the Palestinians because Members cannot stand by idly and watch the terrible persecution that can be seen day in and day out.

It is important to note that we have not honoured the memory of those people who died in the terrible atrocity on 11 September 2001. We have done quite the opposite and events have distracted from the grief and suffering. There is now an opportunity to embrace reality and failure to do so will result in it coming back to haunt us. This haunting process has started in the past few days.