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Parliamentary Debates – House of Commons – Britain

Date: Sunday, May 29 @ 06:49:06 CDT
Topic: Political Support

PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES
HOUSE OF COMMONS
OFFICIAL REPORT
(HANSARD)

Mr. David Amess (Southend, West) (Con) – …We were told that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq; in fact, the real threat is from Iran. I want to take this opportunity to persuade the Minister that we need to engage with the good girls and good boys in Iran on this issue. The Iranian regime’s lethal cocktail of brutal oppression of its people at home, its export of Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism abroad, including to Iraq, and unwavering pursuit of nuclear weapons, represents the real and present threat to the middle east and wider world. What are the Government doing to address that challenge? In a speech in the European Parliament just before Christmas, the charismatic and courageous president-elect, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, whom I recently had the privilege of meeting in Paris, stated that
      "the common equation of ‘either a military invasion or appeasement’ is an exercise in political deception. Appeasement is not the way to contain or change the regime. Nor is it the path to avoid another war. Appeasement only emboldens the mullahs. The answer to fundamentalism is democracy."
She went on to explain how a third option was within reach:
      "The Iranian people and their organised resistance have the capacity and ability to bring about change."
It is to the Government’s shame that the People’s Mujaheddin Organisation of Iran, which, as far as I am concerned, is doing nothing but good, is still on the proscribed list. In the previous Parliament, more than 300 members of this House signed an early-day motion to get the organisation removed from the proscribed list, and I hope that the Minister will do what he can to persuade colleagues to do so.
26 May 2005 : Column 936