Pip Hinman, Sydney
"The August 8 statement by 43 former service chiefs and diplomats, accusing PM John Howard of lying about the reasons for Australia going to war on Iraq, underlines what most Australians already know", Anna Samson from Sydney's Stop the War Coalition told Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly on August 10.
"This government took Australia to war on a lie. It has vilified and incarcerated asylum seekers on the basis of serial lying, and many people are increasingly angry about it."
Howard's lies have been well and truly exposed. An Australian Newspoll in February showed that 62% believed Howard knowingly misled the public about WMDs. The same credibility gap haunts US President George Bush and British PM Tony Blair.
According to a June poll commissioned by the University of Maryland, a majority of people in the US now believe that the White House "stretched the truth" or told outright lies about Iraqi WMDs. In a similar vein, a July 18 poll for the British Sunday Times showed that 57% of Britons would not trust Blair to take them to war again. Fourty-six per cent said they believed Blair had deliberately distorted the intelligence on WMDs.
Responding to the publication of the statement here, Howard and his ministers could only abuse the 43 signatories as "doddering daiquiri diplomats". They were accused of living in the past and failing to comprehend that the world has changed since September 11, 2001.
"Howard claims that the Hull and Flood reports into the pre-war intelligence provided to the government vindicate his actions. But these inquiries' narrow terms of reference and powers of interview ensured that they scapegoated public servants and delivered the vindication the government sought", said Iggy Kim, who is helping organise an "End the lies" rally in Sydney the Sunday before the elections. Similar demonstrations will take place in cities around the country.
"Even Liberals such as Malcolm Turnbull and Peter King are wondering out loud about their party's gung-ho attitude to the war on Iraq", Kim told GLW. "Such public displays of concern about the government's lack of transparency help create the conditions for making the 'truth' rallies the weekend before the elections very large."
Nationally, the Socialist Alliance and the Greens are the main initiating forces for the "End the lies" rallies. However, peace activists, students and other rights groups are getting involved at the local level. The Victorian Trades Hall Council has endorsed the rally being organised by the Victorian Peace Network, and some unions there and in other states have expressed interest in supporting the rallies.
The Sydney endorsement list is growing with several networks, including the Refugee Action Coalition (which has issued its own leaflet advertising the protest), Community Action Against Homophobia (which is organising a feeder rally), and the Timor Sea Justice Campaign (which is organising a contingent), are building it. Other supporters include Action in Solidarity with Asia and the Pacific, the Canterbury-Bankstown Peace Group, the Indigenous Social Justice Association, Indonesia Solidarity, the Marrickville Peace Group, the National Union of Students NSW, Senator Kerry Nettle, the NSW Greens, the Newtown Peace Group, the Parramatta Peace Group, federal Labor MP Tanya Plibersek, Resistance, the Socialist Alliance, the South Sydney Peace Group, the Stop the War Coalition and the UTS Students Association.
"Anger about the occupation of Iraq and the popularity of Mike Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 show that heaps more people are starting to question the sort of 'democracy' that brings so much war, poverty and injustice", said Kim.
Kim explained that the pre-election rallies are aimed at getting as many of the February 2003 protesters as possible back into the streets. "While the political climate has changed since then, and people are a lot less confidant that mass protests can influence politicians, they are still angry and disappointed in the powers-that-be. That's why initiatives such as this one are important. And, frankly, it's the only way ordinary people, and young people in particular, can have their say.
"We want to boot Howard out, but unless we keep the pressure up a future Labor government is likely to go the way of the Coalition. The occupation forces' blitzkrieg in Najaf now prompts us again that the campaign to get Australia's troops home is a priority. This won't solve everything, but it will insert a big political spanner in the US-Australian alliance. The 'End the lies' protests will be an important step in making sure this happens."
From Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly, August 18, 2004.
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