Ironworks Gaming Forum - And from Australia:

Exerpts from the Prime Minister of Australia:
http://www.pm.gov.au/iraq/index.cfm

Beautifully done, really.

Not only is it inherently dangerous for a country such as Iraq with its appalling track record to have these weapons but if Iraq is allowed to get away with it other rogue States will believe they can do the same because they will have seen a world effectively stand by and allow it to happen. And as these dangerous weapons spread so the risk that they may fall into the hands of terrorists will multiply. And if terrorists ever get their hands on weapons of mass destruction that will, in my very passionate belief and argument, constitute a direct, undeniable and lethal threat to Australia and its people, and that would be the ultimate nightmare not only for us but for other peoples in other nations.

That, more than anything else, is the reason why we have taken the stance we have and it's the reason why we believe that Iraq should be effectively and comprehensively disarmed.

Of course our alliance with the United States is also a factor, unapologetically so. America has given very strong leadership to the world on the issue of Iraq. Let us be honest, this issue would not be back before the Security Council now were it not for the United States.

Wow, those are some strong words there. And the fact that they stand with us is saying something for their courage. What an unpopular stance to take.

He goes on:
In our view if the world fails to deal once and for all with the problem of Iraq and its possession of weapons of mass destruction it will have given a green light to the further proliferation of these weapons and it will undo 30 years of hard international work, including by Australia, which has been designed to enforce not only conventions on chemical weapons but also the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Ladies and gentlemen, the world, particularly our own region, is rightly concerned about North Korea. North Korea has blatantly violated its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and so far from the challenge of North Korea, overshadowing the challenge of Iraq, it adds greater urgency and relevance to Iraq. Because if the world cannot disarm Iraq it has no hope of disciplining North Korea.

This is true. I don't think N. Korea will listen to us if we can't even keep a rag tag army like Saddam's in compliance, what threat would the UN be to them? North Korea is stronger than Iraq and we need to be united against them. They are probably watching the dissent in the UN with great amusement.

The hammer:
Those who doubt the case for the disarmament of Iraq should examine again the appalling track record of Saddam Hussein: the invasion of Iran and Kuwait, the firing of the missiles at Israel, Bahrain and Qatar; the bulling of Syria and Jordan and the Gulf States; the use of his weapons against his own people.

Iraq has a long history too of training and supporting terrorist groups, of the practice of paying a sum to every Palestinian family whose member embarks upon a suicide bombing mission into Israel. So the long history of Iraq's relationship with terrorist groups and the disposition to aggregation of the completely reckless kind conditions and reinforces our views.

Those who argue that more weapons inspectors should be given more months to do their work in Iraq do not acknowledge the history of Saddam's failure to co-operate or that there's nothing in that history that has changed. For 12 years the community of nations has tried to cajole and encourage Iraq to honour its UN disarmament obligations, and it's failed.

There is more if you care to read it. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[ 03-15-2003, 11:44 AM: Message edited by: Charean ]