Hon. Roméo Antonius Dallaire:

Honourable senators, the leader has often accused us on this side — and I have borne the brunt of this accusation a couple of times — that our questions are simply based on newspaper articles. May I say, with respect, that everything the leader has just said I have heard or read at least a dozen times, through a variety of media outlets. I am not here to query the leader on how up to date she is with the media but to query her on the fundamental principles and concepts with regard to operations for which we deploy forces into zones that are in conflict.

This fundamental premise was articulated after Rwanda and after Srebrenica, when we said that we have a responsibility to protect. A whole spectrum of criteria have to be met, and these criteria are there to assist nations in taking even more timely decisions in terms of how to go through the diplomatic processes and ultimately, in extremis, how to use force.

Are we going into Libya with that concept in mind, that we are applying what we have sold to the rest of the world?

I can understand that there has been reticence with regard to the responsibility to protect. When we brought in this doctrine, some of the weaker countries were worried that the big boys would use it to come in and take away their dictators. That is not our plan, although there are a few out there who could use it. In the other case, there were the big countries that did not want to be dragged into situations that they were not keen on because of the RTOP.

Are we worried that if we use the term "responsibility to protect" as a fundamental premise and application within this operation, that it might create a precedent of our having to respond in subsequent operations?

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