Home What's New Speeches & Articles Newsletter - Apr 2008 Biography Diary Contact Information Photo Album Parliamentary Highlights Publications Links MEPs' Transparency   Conservative Party Latest News from Conservatives.com Conservative Party Website
		CIA Committee Plenary Speech - Tuesday 14th February 2006 Mr. President I should like to add my thanks to the rapporteur for his work. Like my colleague Mr Gawronski (EPP, Italy), I too am glad that Mr. Fava has laid stress on dealing with the facts of this case. Because so far we are dealing with speculation. We have speculative press reports. We have the reports of plane spotters about aircraft landing in European airports, but we have no idea who or what was in those aircraft. We have the Council of Europe report by Swiss Senator Dick Marty, which was described by a former British government Minister as "having more holes than a Swiss cheese". Mr. President, whether we like it or not we are facing a war against terrorism. And the fact is, although some members of this committee may not like it, it is the United States which has borne the burden of this war in the heat of the day, which has provided the lion's share of men and matériel. We would do well to treat our American ally with a little more respect and gratitude. My fear is that the main purpose of this committee is to provide a platform for anti-American propaganda, and my fears were not assuaged by the ill-judged and intemperate remarks, after the constitutive meeting of our committee, by the noble Baroness (Sarah Ludford, ALDE, UK). Sadly, Mr. President, there will be, in the future, new terrorist attacks in Europe, or perhaps in my country. When those attacks take place, we on this committee will have to examine our consciences. We will have to ask ourselves, did the work we did on this committee make those attacks less likely? Or by highlighting differences of opinion within the Western camp, did we give encouragement to terrorists and make those attacks more likely?