The following is an archived copy of a message sent to a Discussion List run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
Views expressed in this archived message are those of the author, not of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
[Main archive index/search] [List information] [Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq Homepage]
Dear All, Here is the text of Menzies Campbell speech to the LIb-Dem conference earlier this year. IRAQ Liberal-Democrats supported the UN-led action in the Gulf War - we were right to do so. When Saddam Hussein sought to flout the will of the UN by expelling inspectors and manufacturing weapons of mass destruction, Liberal Democrats supported military action. We were right to do so. If today Saddam Hussein were threatening Kuwait by massing troops on its borders, I would be telling you we should be willing with others to face down the threat by military means. But we owe it to ourselves, and to the suffering people of Iraq to keep our policy under review. What does that policy towards Iraq amount to now? Containment - and nothing more. Successive Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch reports reveal the shocking catalogue of unspeakable terror and evil which Saddam Hussein continues to impose upon his own people. Their daily lives, save for those whose welfare and loyalty are essential for the survival of the regime. Are blighted by poverty, malnutrition and ignominy. The ordinary people of Iraq are the oppressed not the oppressors. Their suffering is not caused by sanctions- it is caused by the evil exploitation of sanctions by Saddam Hussein But, remove the sanctions and you remove the opportunity for that exploitation. Remove the sanctions which are used by the regime in Iraq to justify the systematic degradation of the Iraqi people by its own government and you take that weapon away from Saddam Hussein. Remove the sanctions and you will find a collective and sympathetic sigh of relief from Arab governments throughout the Middle East who believe the Iraq people have suffered enough. So today I say that it should now become the policy of the British Government that sanction other than those directly relevant to military or military related equipm should be lifted. The removal of non-military sanctions will not prejudice the policy of containment, Deterrence allied to the credible threat of military action is a sufficient basis for containment. Non-military sanctions do not hurt Saddam Hussein and the elite who surround him. But they are used by him to hurt his own people. After ten years it is time to deny that opportunity. -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a discussion list run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq For removal from list, email soc-casi-discuss-request@lists.cam.ac.uk Full details of CASI's various lists can be found on the CASI website: http://www.casi.org.uk