Page:United Nations Security Council Meeting Record 2933.pdf/12

BHS/ed 17 (Mr. Pickering, United States) provocative to other States in the region. The family of nations has come to the point where it cannot believe anything the Baghdad regime has to say on this matter.

The international community, by this draft resolution, demands immediate implementation of United Nations Security Council resolution 660 (1990). The many statements from individual States around the world, the European Community, the Gulf Co-operation Council, the Arab League and the non-aligned States condemn the Iraqi invasion and demand withdrawal. We will, by our draft resolution today, give effect to their condemnations of this invasion and to all our calls for immediate and unconditional withdrawal.

This is only the second occasion on which we, in this Council, will have taken such a sweeping and weighty step. It will reflect a new world order of international co-operation in the Council and elsewhere.

There are some who hope that Baghdad's purported promises to withdraw immediately and unconditionally will be implemented without international insistence. Unfortunately, insistence is necessary. Reality indicates the contrary of Baghdad's promises. Promises not to invade and subsequent promises to withdraw already have been proven to be mendacious. In a matter of six hours, Iraq took over Kuwait; in a matter of 24 hours, Iraq established a marionette "provisional government"; in a matter of 48 hours, Iraqi troops – more than 100,000 strong – were "volunteered" to serve quickly as puppets and move south to the Saudi border. Moreover, Iraq has effectively held hostage and threatened over 1 million foreigners, and Iraq's puppets in Kuwait have declared that they will not behave honourably should the international community seek to respond to Iraqi aggression.

We will, of course, want to respect the rights of all States to continue to maintain necessary contacts with the Baghdad regime effectively to protect their