I thank the Ceann Comhairle for giving me permission to raise this issue on the Adjournment. However, I do not regard this procedure as adequate to deal with this topic.
There must be few people who have not been shocked and appalled at the images which appeared on our television screens last night of the mutilated and burnt bodies of women and children being removed from the air raid shelter in Baghdad following a direct hit by US bombs the previous night. Clearly the news reporters, many of whom are hardened veterans of others wars, were stunned by the carnage before their eyes.
Even though the number of casualties is now thankfully well below the numbers first suggested by the Iraqi authorities, it is still clear that this was an appalling and inexcusable outrage which inflicted death and destruction on a massive scale on civilans who are not involved in any way in this war. This incident must have brought home to many people the horror of this war and the human toll it is taking. It must also have brought home to people that this is not some elaborate video was where military operations are carried out with so-called surgical precision and where civilian casualties are avoided or kept to an irrelevant minimum. It must have also brought home to many Irish people the shocking consequences of the decision taken by the Government to support the United States led offensive and to grant overflight and landing facilities for US military aircraft on their way to and from the Gulf. It is possible that the aircraft which carried out this operation flew over Irish territory on its way to the Gulf and that the bombs which have caused such casualties were transported through Irish airspace.
At a peace rally held at Shannon Airport on 20 January last I expressed my fear that the unconditional blanket decision by this country to provided what Resolution 678 described as "appropriate support" for this war could involve us in an open-ended commitment to support or be associated with inhuman methods and scales of warfare designed to secure a quick kill. I am afraid that this has already happened. The indisputable fact is that as long as we facilitate the passage or refuelling of aircraft involved in the war which is destroying so many human beings, we are an accessory to mass murder. We should always remember that this war is not directly controlled by the United Nations or even closely monitored by them.
One of the most disturbing aspects of the Baghdad bombing was the way in which US spokesmen attempted to defend and justify the attack on the air raid shelter. It is clear that the United States considers this sort of casualty rate among civilians to be an inevitable, although unfortunate consequence of the war. It is also clear that the war is providing to be much more difficult for the Coalition than they expected and that far from being over in a number of days this conflict is likely to go on.
In these circumstances the United States is likely to be tempted to resort to using even more vicious weapons of war. The casualties from the Baghdad bombing had such appalling burns that napalm may well have been used. It has been suggested by independent journalists that fuel air bombs which produce huge and powerful ground level fireballs over a wide area may have been used, or may be used. What will happen if the United States decide that nuclear or chemical weapons are necessary? Will we continue to facilitate the war by giving landing rights and permission for overflights? A line must be drawn at some point. People are increasingly questioning what is being done in the name of the international community.
Our membership of the United Nations cannot absolve us from the obligation to evaluate the morality of what is being done in our name. It should also be stressed that the resolution on which the United States is basing the justification for the war was not unanimously supported by the 15 members of the Security Council. The Security Council is not an independent authority. It is an organ of the United Nations and must be bound by the spirit and letter of their charter. Increasing doubts have been expressed about the legality of Resolution 678. I ask the Government to use the powers available to them, as a member of the United Nations, to ask the General Assembly to request the International Court of Justice for an advisory opinion as to the legality of Resolution 678.
The original decision taken by the Government to support this war and grant landing and overflight permission to US military aircraft was wrong. I accept the bona fides of many of those who took a different view then. However, the situation has changed dramatically since the Dáil discussed the matter on 19 January last. This is particularly evident from the civilian death toll. Against this background the Government must withdraw their permission for overflights and landing rights, must call for an end to the bombing, insist that no land war is launched and that the United Nations regain control and launch an immediate peace initiative.
