Iraq
Yet again, it appears that senior Coalition of the Willing politicians have fed the public grossly false — but politically convenient — information about Iraq. On November 20, 2003, Tony Blair declared: "We've already discovered, just so far, the remains of 400,000 people in mass graves." On March 18, 2004, Alexander Downer claimed "they [have] found about 300,000 bodies in mass graves so far". But the respected UK newspaper The Observer reports (July 18, 2004) that the British government now admits the number of corpses uncovered is about 5000.
Since 55 out of 270 suspected mass-grave sites have been examined to date, it seems very probable that nothing remotely like 300,000 or 400,000 bodies will ever be found.
Politicians have an obligation to make diligent efforts to know the truth about important issues and to promptly present the facts squarely to the community. The quoted remarks suggest another scandalous failure by serial offenders Blair and Downer.
Brent Howard
Rydalmere, NSW
Fahrenheit 9/11
At the 2005 Academy Awards, and the 2005 Golden Globe awards, Fahrenheit 9/11 deserves to be nominated and win at least three top awards. It should be nominated for best picture while Mike Moore should be nominated for best director, and George W. Bush should be nominated for best male actor or best supporting actor.
If Dick Cheney dies of a heart attack, then surely George Bush will invite Mike Moore to become US vice-president.
Jane Wallace
Riverwood, NSW
Paul Foot
It was with shock that I heard on the ABC Radio National's Late Night Live, hosted by Phillip Adams, of the death of Paul Foot. Paul Foot was a journalist and socialist. Poms would know of him, if otherwise out of the loop, as a nephew of former British Labour Party leader, Michael Foot.
Hearing of his death took me back 30 years, hearing him speak at the school in London I went to, invited by the school socialist society, run by students. He was brilliant.
He laid waste that hoary old shibboleth that used to do the rounds, "If you are young and are not a socialist, you don't have a heart. If you are forty and are still a socialist, you don't have a head."
"For myself", I remember him saying, "I just get more and more angry with the way things are, as I get older!"
I often think about that. He said much else that was to the point, especially about the Labour Party, tamed and hardly a real alternative to the Conservatives; much that is true now, and for us. Paul Foot, belatedly, thank you.
Stephen Langford
Paddington, NSW
Juvenile executions
In October this year, the US Supreme Court will
deliberate on the execution of juveniles, based on the
case of Christopher Simmons who is a juvenile on death
row in Missouri.
I note that 48 nations, including New Zealand, have
filed amicus briefs in support of the abolition of the
execution of juveniles. I note that Australia is not
among those listed.
I would like to know why there is no representation
from Australia in this very important issue.
Details of the briefs can be found at http://www.abanet.org/crimjust/juvjus/simmons/simmonsamicus.html.
Paula Ann Davis
Alabama, USA
Terrorist threat
Foreign minister Alexander Downer says that the "war on terror" will take a very long time and cost billions of dollars. If that sounds scary, then that is exactly what was intended. If you feel emotionally manipulated, that is what the Howard government is deliberately doing to you. But I would contend that this "crying wolf" actually increases any danger that does really exist.
But the Howard government has already spent heavily on "defence", "security" and "border protection" and have been strutting the region like the "deputy sheriff", boasting about their military power and insulting Asian and Pacific sensibilities.
Downer's insults directed against the Philippines, accusing them of "caving in" to terrorists, are both reckless and deeply offensive. His classically tasteless, recently repeated insult that "after all that we have done for East Timor" will not win us friends or make us safer.
There is also suspicion that the Indonesians were pressured to try the Bali bombers using risky retrospective terrorist legislation instead of straight, conspiracy and grievous bodily harm and murder charges. This reliance on retrospective laws would not have been constitutional here either.
If we are really going to be safer we will need to work closely and respectfully with neighbouring countries and accept their cultural differences too.
The invasion and war against Iraq was illegal, immoral and it was not in Australia's national interests, unless the slaughter of more than 10,000 Iraqis was just a training exercise.
Very soon Australians could be leaving Iraq in haste. I agree with former Liberal Party president John Valder, that this government has committed war crimes by this pre-emptive war on Iraq. Most importantly, it has made every one of us a target because we are all tainted by our association with John Howard. So, will we be safer when we have ended that association?
Now that there is a danger of genocide in Darfur there is a legitimate reason for sending Australian troops to do peacekeeping duties with agreement from all sides of politics. Let's hope that this will regain some international respect. But we will not gain that respect by characterising the conflict as Christian versus Muslim.
Willy Bach
Queenland Greens candidate for Fadden
Brisbane
Crisis for liberal Liberals
Is there a party small "l" Liberals can turn to? John Valder, former Liberal Party president, former chair of the Stock Exchange, is spearheading a broad-based campaign to unseat PM John Howard in his own seat of Bennelong.
Valder and former cabinet minister Peter Baume, now chancellor of Canberra University, recently spoke at a Politics in the Pub session, a broad left weekly forum held in Sydney, about the plight of the small "l" Liberals.
At the end of last year Valder came out strongly condemning the Howard government's involvement in the pre-emptive war in Iraq. His speech to the Brisbane-based Socratic Forum was even published in the Australian Socialist journal.
Liberal voters may think that they are voting for their party's "hardworking" local MPs or candidates. In truth, they will be voting for a party headed by John Howard whose policies are endangering Australian security and sovereignty, a direction roundly rejected by many small "l" Liberals and some very senior Liberal Party members as "too far to the right". Time for a new Progressive Liberal Party and a change to proportional representation?
Klaas Woldring
Senate candidate, Progressive Labour Party
Pearl Beach, NSW
Redfern inquiry
Counsel assisting coroner Liz Fullerton said that while police did not cause TJ Hickey's death, their "lack of candor" enhanced public doubts about their integrity.
Flying in face of the decision of the NSW Court of Appeal in Clarkson v Wright & Anor Matter (available at http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/nsw/supreme_ct/1998/310.html and in Wright v Clarkson (available at http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/nsw/supreme_ct/2000/669.html), the coroner allowed the police to refuse to answer questions.
After all, the police were not really lying, they were only "stressed".
In statements after the accident on February 14, constables
Hollingsworth and Reynolds failed to mention they went after Hickey down a cul-de-sac, mounted a kerb and travelled on the path Hickey was riding on moments before — matters that their counsel said don't matter a great deal.
So, after the Woods royal commission, back to good old fashioned policing!
Mark Clarkson
Sydney
From Green Left Weekly, August 4, 2004.
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