Debate on Coalition Against International Terrorism
16 Oct 2001
Ms Diane Abbott (Hackney, North and Stoke Newington): The right hon. Gentleman calls for effective military action to bring the terrorists to book. The whole House would agree that there should be effective military action. However, for military action to be effective it has to be sustainable. The Americans had to withdraw from Vietnam not because they could not out-gun the Vietnamese, but because their action was not sustainable in the face of world opinion. How long does the right hon. Gentleman think that world opinion, especially in Muslim countries from Nigeria to the middle east, will support the inevitable rising civilian death toll in Afghanistan? Mr. Maude: I want to come later to that important point, which the hon. Lady is right to raise.
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