While government and opposition ministers ruminate ceaselessly about what kind of "exit strategy" is needed to get troops out of Iraq, the anti-war movement has been shouting its strategy: "Troops out now!"
Prime Minister John Howard may have recently declared that Australians are "over the war", but so great is the dissent that three well-known Liberal Party figures have recently expressed opposition to Howard's Iraq war and occupation.
Former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser, former party leader John Hewson, and former party president John Valder have each attacked the Coalition government.
Fraser, who was the Liberal Party's defence minister at the height of the Vietnam war, was quoted by the April 9 Age drawing the comparison between the wars in Vietnam and Iraq:
"In both cases, you had a largely American army, not completely but largely, trying to support or establish a state in a country that was foreign and alien to them."
Fraser also outlined the popular support for the Iraqi resistance in Iraq. "It's not just the Shiites that came out in force, or one section of the Shiites, it's not just the Sunnis, it's not just the loyalists to Saddam Hussein, it's Iraqis who want America out".
Former Liberal Party president, John Valder, backed up Fraser's comments on ABC Radio, decrying the invasion and observing that Howard deserved to lose the next election for his actions in Iraq. Valder also suggested that there was a case for leaders of the coalition — including Howard — to face war crimes trials.
Three days after Valder and Fraser's comments, former Liberal Party leader John Hewson added to the criticism of the government and echoed Fraser's comparison of Iraq to Vietnam.
"The fact is there's no end in sight, no point at which the commitment ends", he told the April 12 Australian. "I would like to see the troops home as soon as possible. I don't think we should have gone and I don't think (Prime Minister John Howard) should have offered an open-ended commitment".
While the sharpening debate within Liberal Party circles over the Iraq question is unlikely to shift Howard's slavish adherence to US President George Bush's position, it does signify growing divisions in both the Australian and international political elite.
The debate in Australia is also not confined to Liberal Party circles. There is some debate in the parliamentary Labor Party over its "exit strategy".
In late March, senior Labor figures reacted angrily to ALP leader Mark Latham's pledge to withdraw Australia's 850 troops from Iraq by Christmas, claiming their concern was about Latham taking "unilateral" decisions without consulting the front bench.
However, despite remaining vague on the detail on the policy, Latham seems detirmined to stick to a "bring them home soonish" position.
Asked in an April 1 media statement if an ALP government would pull out Australian troops by Christmas — even if there was not a "relatively stable democratic state" in Iraq, Latham replied:
"We have said all along and Kevin Rudd said this in November that when they go to a sovereign Iraqi Government and they are doing that in the middle of the year, a government that is ready to govern, then it is appropriate for the government to start up its exit strategy and it is our intention to have the troops home by Christmas".
Latham's stance, the growing dissent within the Liberal Party, coupled with the accelerating crisis on the ground in Iraq, have opened up more space for the anti-war movement to further push its demand for "troops out now!"
There is also a growing possibility that the Howard government will be defeated at the next election, which would be a clear victory for the anti-war movement.
Further mobilisations now will have an impact. The movement needs to hold the ALP to its "troops out" position, and to pressure it to adopt the movement's clear position of troops out now — not by Christmas nor at the handover to mostly US-appointed "Iraqi'" administration.
On April 16, emergency anti-war actions were held around the country in response to the deepening crisis in Iraq, particularly the US murder of civilians in Falluja. Such emergency actions are a vital necessity as the slaughter intensifies.
On June 30 — the date of the supposed "transfer of power" to an Iraqi government — the anti-war movement has called an international day of action against the war and occupation. This is the next major focus of the global movement, and the best opportunity for anti-war activists to demand that Howard bring the troops home now.
From Green Left Weekly, April 21, 2004.
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