Alexander Downer (Mayo, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for Forrest for his question. It is fair to say that this government is proud of its role in the great coalition that removed Saddam Hussein from power and is glad that Saddam is no longer a threat to his people, to the Middle East or to anywhere else. His weapons of mass destruction programs are gone. He produced those weapons; he used them. In his second trial, which is on this week, he stands accused of killing an estimated 100,000 Kurdish men, women and children, including by the use of chemical weapons. Witnesses have testified about bombs in 1987 producing clouds of green poisonous gas that sent civilians screaming through their villages blinded and vomiting. Saddam Hussein can no longer perform these deeds. No longer will he finance suicide bombers, shelter other terrorists or, for that matter, invade his neighbours. Some people in this House may say that he should still be in power, but for our part we are proud that we played a role in overthrowing him.

The best judges of this debate are, curiously enough, not the Australian Labor Party, and not necessarily the government. The best judges of this debate are the Iraqi people. A recent poll in the Sydney Morning Heraldand that is hardly a newspaper that has been passionately our way on this issue—showed that, despite the hardships of the people of Iraq, 77 per cent of Iraqis agree that getting rid of Saddam Hussein was worth while. That is something for the House to reflect on. That is the view of the Iraqi people. It may not be the view of the Australian Labor Party—

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