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

Firstly, can I thank the honourable member for Fairfax for his question and for his interest. After four years, I think we can look back with pride and say that we made a contribution to bringing down a vicious dictator—a man who tortured and murdered his people, who used chemical weapons against his own people; a man who invaded neighbouring countries, who started a war with Iran in which a million people were killed. We are proud that we contributed to destroying that regime. Secondly, we are proud that we made a contribution to the start of a new democracy. The people of Iraq have voted three times. The last time, 12 million of those people went out and voted for a democratically elected parliament which has elected a government.

On this side of the House, we are champions of democracy. We believe in democracy and we believe in it with a great deal of passion. We are very proud that we have made a contribution. We accept that the situation in Iraq, particularly in Baghdad and Al Anbar province, and the four provinces in and around Baghdad, is very difficult. People are being attacked by terrorists, by al-Qaeda in Iraq. The suicide bombings are mainly conducted by those people. There have been battles between death squads and militias in and around Baghdad as well, and this has been a very great threat to democracy in Iraq. And there have been attempts, particularly by al-Qaeda in Iraq, to foment civil war.

It is the view of this government that these people must be defeated. The Baghdad security plan is unfolding and we will have to wait and see how successful that will be. We are not making any false claims. At this stage, there are some early and encouraging signs. We are hopeful about the future. We are not certain, but we happen to think it is a good idea to support the Baghdad security plan. The Labor Party think it should be opposed. They oppose the Baghdad security plan. They said it was wrong. It was not wrong. It is worth trying to defeat the terrorists in and around Baghdad. I must say I have a great deal of admiration for those who have the courage to take up the fight to those terrorists, and I do not have any admiration for people who think the solution is to run away.

I will give the House an example. Some terrorists abducted two children in a car. They drove this car full of bombs into a crowded area. They left the children in the car because the children gave them the opportunity to get the car through security—security people did not think a car with children would be a problem. The terrorists ran away from the car, they detonated the bombs and they killed the children in an attempt to kill other people as well. These are not the sorts of people that we on this side of the House would ever want to give in to. We would never want to let people like that win. We would never want to see people as depraved as that victorious.

What about the opposition? It seems to me that the opposition says it has an exit strategy. Its exit strategy can be summed up in one word and that word is ‘surrender’. That is the opposition’s exit strategy. Our exit strategy is conditions based. When the Iraqi security forces can sustain their democracy, that is the time to leave. If they cannot, and you leave then, it is time to surrender. It is as simple as that.

Let me make the point that when in this country we debate the issue of Iraq people need to answer this question: do we want democracy to succeed in Iraq or do we not? On this side of the House we do want it to succeed. Will the Labor Party ever stand up and say it wants democracy to succeed in Iraq? I have not heard it yet. Do we want the insurgents and the terrorists to win in Iraq—

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