Nghimtina slams US war efforts

FOR the second year in a row, Defence Minister Erkki Nghimtina has used the budget debate to criticise the effect the US-led war on Iraq is having on peace and security in the world.

Last year, the regime of Saddam Hussein was still five days from being toppled when Nghimtina took the opportunity provided by the introduction of his Ministry’s defence budget to make some comments on the war in Iraq. At the time, he described the invasion of Iraq by the US, “and its so-called coalition of the willing nations”, as an example of the rich and powerful nations of the world imposing their will on weaker countries under the pretext of being liberators.Yesterday – with the US-led coalition forces increasingly appearing to be getting bogged down in a guerrilla war in Iraq – Nghimtina returned to the same theme.He told the Assembly that while Namibia’s military supported the fight against any act of terrorism, it rejected “the style of the so-called coalition of the willing nations in combating it”.Said Nghimtina:”The war against the people of Iraq, which was launched on dangerously flawed intelligence, continues to make the world a great deal less safe a place than before.They have so far failed to provide proof of the existence of alleged weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, which was the pretext for invading that country and occupying it.”At the time, he described the invasion of Iraq by the US, “and its so-called coalition of the willing nations”, as an example of the rich and powerful nations of the world imposing their will on weaker countries under the pretext of being liberators.Yesterday – with the US-led coalition forces increasingly appearing to be getting bogged down in a guerrilla war in Iraq – Nghimtina returned to the same theme.He told the Assembly that while Namibia’s military supported the fight against any act of terrorism, it rejected “the style of the so-called coalition of the willing nations in combating it”.Said Nghimtina:”The war against the people of Iraq, which was launched on dangerously flawed intelligence, continues to make the world a great deal less safe a place than before.They have so far failed to provide proof of the existence of alleged weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, which was the pretext for invading that country and occupying it.”