In 2003 a clear majority of people in Australia opposed this country supporting the US in its war for oil in Iraq. But the Howard government treated our opinion with contempt. It said it was a matter of urgency to remove the Saddam Hussein regime because of its "weapons of mass destruction" and connections with terrorism.
Now everyone can see Howard lied. On the basis of those lies the Howard government made Australia a criminal accomplice in a cruel and bloody war in which tens of thousands of innocent people have perished.
And now Howard is lying again to excuse the Australian military complicity in the cover-up of torture and abuse of Iraqi prisoners.
John Howard hopes to win the coming election by scaring people into believing that we need an ultra-conservative, militarily aggressive and refugee-bashing government to make us feel more secure. It is one more lie that's fast being exposed.
War abroad goes with a war on our civil liberties at home. The Howard government's anti-terrorist legislation — supported by the ALP — potentially turns community and union activism into "terrorism" and throws basic democratic rights (like the right to silence and access to a lawyer) into the dust bin.
The Socialist Alliance says the only way out of the Iraq disaster is to bring the troops home now and let the Iraqi people decide their own future.
There is no middle road. There is no positive role for Australian forces in Iraq. That's because the vast majority of Iraqis — including those who were victims of Saddam — rightly see all foreign troops as part of an imperial occupation force.
Opposition leader Mark Latham promises to bring the troops home from Iraq if the ALP is elected at the next election, but his would-be foreign minister suggests that Australian troops might be redirected to another imperialist intervention, perhaps in Afghanistan. This is a poor alternative to Howard's way.
Imagine if you were living in the hell that is Iraq today, after 10 years of a blockade that has killed half-a-million people, mainly children. The tragedy of Iraq tells us that the major parties' foreign policy approach has to be overturned. Here is Australia again dutifully helping Washington trample on the rights of peoples.
Australia's "defence policy" is also based on a whopping lie — that this country faces potential aggressors and must have the most lethal tanks, jet fighters and submarines available to keep them at bay.
But there's a small problem. No-one, not even the federal government, can tell us who these aggressors might be.
You don't need to waste billions on tanks, Joint Strike Fighters with "enhanced lethality" and attack submarines to defend Australia against imaginary threats. They're only needed if you think Australian forces may have to get involved in helping friendly corrupt governments repress people's uprisings in places like West Papua, Aceh or the southern Philippines.
Or if you want to guarantee Australian business a share of the plunder by helping out the US in its next war for natural resources like oil.
Such "defence expenditure" is simply like a mafia gang splashing out on the latest in machine guns so it can win the next shoot-out.
There is an alternative. Australian foreign and defence policy must change sides. It must champion the poor and struggling peoples of the world against the dominant corporate elites and their governments and global institutions, like the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the World Trade Organisation.
That requires one thing above all: to end Australia's military and economic alliance with the US, not only rejecting "Son of Star Wars" but closing Pine Gap, leaving ANZUS and ending all "defence" agreements with Washington.
We also say: Fight for the cancellation of the crippling $3 trillion Third World debt; and lift Australia's aid to impoverished countries from its present miserable 0.25% of GDP to at least 1%. Change it from high-profit contracts with Australian businesses to unconditional non-profit aid to communities that need it most.
[David Glanz is a national co-convenor of the Socialist Alliance and the Socialist Alliance candidate for Wills.]
From 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly, June 23, 2004.
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