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blackcat
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 Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2008 11:31 am Post subject: "Going to war with Iraq was wrong" - Australian PM |
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/austr alia/2064720/Going-to-war-with-Iraq-was-wrong%2C-Australian-Prime-Mini ster-Kevin-Rudd-admits.html
| Quote: | Going to war with Iraq was wrong, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd admits
By Nick Squires in Sydney, Last Updated: 7:56PM BST 02/06/2008
All the arguments Australia marshalled to justify sending troops to fight in Iraq proved to be wrong, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said today, as the country's 550 combat soldiers headed home.
In an admission that will make uncomfortable reading in London and Washington, the Labour leader dismissed one-by-one the reasons used by his predecessor, John Howard, to join the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq five years ago.
"Have further terrorist attacks been prevented? No, they have not been, as the victims of the Madrid train bombing will attest," Mr Rudd told parliament.
"Has any evidence of a link between weapons of mass destruction and the former Iraqi regime and terrorists been found? No.
"Have the actions of rogue states like Iran been moderated? No ... Iran's nuclear ambitions remain a fundamental challenge.
"After five years, has the humanitarian crisis in Iraq been removed? No it has not."
Mr Rudd, whose campaign for election last November included a pledge to withdraw Australian combat forces from Iraq, said pre-war intelligence had been "abused" by the Howard government.
He said there had been a "failure to disclose to the Australian people the qualified nature of the intelligence - for example, the pre-war warning that an attack on Iraq would increase the terrorist threat, not decrease it".
Mr Rudd, a former diplomat, also dismissed his predecessor's argument that Australia had been obliged to send troops to Iraq because of its long-standing alliance with the United States.
He said while he valued the alliance highly, it did not mean that Canberra should automatically accede to US requests for military support.
His comments came a day after Australia's 550-strong combat force began leaving its base at Tallil, 185 miles south of Baghdad.
Mr Howard, who has kept a low profile since being ousted from office six months ago, said he was still convinced that being part of the 2003 invasion of Iraq was justified.
"I firmly believe it was the right thing to have done," he said, while acknowledging that it was the hardest decision he made as prime minister and that the cost of the war had been "very, very heavy and much greater than anybody would have liked".
His decision to send troops was deeply influenced by the fact that he was in the US on an official visit on September 11, 2001, when terrorists struck New York and Washington.
Mr Howard was one of four leaders who supported the US-led coalition but who are all now out of office: Tony Blair, Jose Maria Aznar of Spain and Polish president Aleksander Kwasniewski.
One of Mr Howard's former senior officials said the government had been fully briefed on the fact that invading Iraq would damage US prestige, foster anti-Western sentiment, require a massive troop presence and destabilise the wider Middle East.
"All that was predictable and I don't think the benefits of the West going in were worth the cost," the official, who declined to be named, told the Sydney Morning Herald.
"That was my judgment at the time and that hasn't changed."
Australia will still have about 800 military personnel in and around Iraq, including a 110-strong diplomatic security detachment in Baghdad, sailors on board warships in the Persian Gulf and Royal Australian Air Force crew. |
A big chink in the armour at last!!
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"The conflict between corporations and activists is that of narcolepsy versus remembrance. The corporations have money, power and influence. Our sole influence is public outrage. Extract from "Cloud Atlas (page 125) by David Mitchell. |
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fish5133
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Joined: 13 Sep 2006
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Location: One breath from Glory
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| Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2008 11:03 pm Post subject: |
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he is halfway there, just need him to say 911 was inside job. Truth , how unpleasant it maybe is easier to live with than deception
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"for we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of the darkness of this world, against wicked spirits in high places " Eph.6 v 12 |
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Cromwell
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Joined: 27 May 2008
Posts: 25
Location: Bartertown
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| Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 8:39 am Post subject: |
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I also thought it suspicious that John Howard was in Washington on 9/11.
Kevin Rudd I am watching closely he has not mentioned NWO in any of his speeches yet so we will see. He is also supporting a republic.
The last outspoken Prime Minister was Gough Whitlam and he challenged the central bankers and the Queen sacked him. She has these powers she just doesn't like to use them and then only as a last resort.
Kevin Rudd also said sorry to these guys which would suggets that he hasn't been got at yet.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=B1jeWeDpc68 |
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Disco_Destroyer
Trustworthy Freedom Fighter
Joined: 05 Sep 2006
Posts: 6342
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| Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 12:09 pm Post subject: |
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ICC GETS LEGAL CHARGE:
FORMER AUSTRALIAN PM HOWARD IS A WAR CRIMINAL
AUSTRALIA'S 'NEW' PM KEVIN RUDD PRAISES TROOPS LEAVING IRAQ
"A legal brief has been sent to the International Criminal Court alleging the former Australian prime minister, John Howard, committed a war crime by sending troops to Iraq."
[Next must be all and everybody who supported the genocide for profit and power, regardless of nationality. The propaganda media everywhere should be in the first row among the accused war criminals. But we'll need real tribunals, not the ICC which has shown to be on the wrong side. - HR].
ABC - Radio Australia - 03 June 2008 - Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has praised the hundreds of Australian troops leaving Iraq, but says they were sent there because of flawed intelligence. His comments come as Australian troops end combat operations in southern Iraq, and prepare to return home.
Mr Rudd dismissed former prime minister John Howard's reasons for supporting the war. Mr Rudd says the Iraq conflict had failed to prevent terrorist attacks, and that no link between weapons of mass destructon and the former Iraqi regime had been found.
The pullout fulfils an election promise by the prime minister, Kevin Rudd, to bring the soldiers home this year. For almost two years, Australian troops have been patrolling Dhi Qar and Al * provinces, as well as training Iraqi soldiers and police. The packing up now begins. Mr Rudd says the troops have performed their mission superbly in a dangerous environment.
BUT HE HAS ALSO STRONGLY CRITICISED THE FORMER GOVERNMENT FOR JOINING THE INVASION. "WE ON THIS SIDE OF THE HOUSE DID NOT SUPPORT THE DECISION TO GO TO WAR," HE SAID.
Leader of the main opposition party, Brendan Nelson, says there is evidence to show the mission has succeeded. "As a result of all of this, we are now close to the defeat of al Qaeda in Iraq," he said. [This is pure nonsense - HR]
It is expected many of the 550 troops will be home by the end of this month, when a welcome parade will be held in the Queensland city of Brisbane. Their operations will now be taken over by American troops. Around 1,000 Australian soldiers will remain in Iraq supporting troops deployed in Afghanistan and providing diplomatic security. The national head of the Returned Services League says he does not expect the troops to face the same resentment as Vietnam veterans did.
Major General Bill Crews says the Australian community is far more sophisticated and aware than it was in the Vietnam days. "I believe we're all able, or most of us are able, to separate the politics of the deployment from the need to wholeheartedly support the service men and women who are undertaking this role on our behalf," he said. "Because most people say 'I didn't agree with you being there, but I certainly agree that you've done a great job'."
RELATIONS SECURE?
Australia Iraq's ambassador to Australia says the relationship between the two countries will not be damaged by the withdrawal of Australian combat troops. Iraqi Ambassador Ghanim Al-Shibli says it is the right time for them to leave. "The need for troops are not there any more, the Iraqis are standing on their feet thanks to the assistance of the Australians, as well as the multinationals," he said. "The relationship with Australia is moving into different avenues."
Meanwhile, a legal brief has been sent to the International Criminal Court alleging the former Australian prime minister, John Howard, committed a war crime by sending troops to Iraq.
A loose alliance of peace activists, lawyers, academics and politicians are behind the brief organised by the ICC Action group based in Melbourne.
An organiser, Glen Floyd, says Mr Howard should be made accountable for sending troops to a war not sanctioned by the United Nations.
"We have produced a 52-page brief of evidence which states to the chief prosecutor of the criminal court that we allege John Howard's actions are war crimes under article 8 of the Rome statute," he said.
Source: ABC - Australian Radio - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/4vq9m8
As said before: all war criminals of every and double nationality, everybody anywhere in whatever country, who supported the genocide of other human beings, is guilty of those crimes and will be punished for it. Without the propaganda by the media murderers all those illegal invasions and hundreds of millions of dead people would NEVER have happened. Never! - HR
The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, The Netherlands, is not kosher. - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/6bzhqa
Many war criminals and their stooges, like Fujimori, the former PM in Peru, are in jail or stand trial. They are punished for their criminality. - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/5rkka6
Former PM and an incredible traitor in The Netherlands, who sold himself and everybody else, Wim Kok, and his ilk were taken to hearings in court in Holland. And a lot of clever experienced people are working day and night to restore human rights and the law. We must get 'them' before they get us. Former PM Wim Kok, and other Dutch Govt's War criminals in Court - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/662pp
IT'S DANGEROUS TO BE RIGHT, WHEN YOUR GOVERNMENT IS WRONG - VOLTAIRE
FPF-COPYRIGHT NOTICE - In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107 - any copyrighted work in this message is distributed by the Foreign Press Foundation under fair use, without profit or payment, to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the information. Url.: http://tinyurl.com/3z3r6
FOREIGN PRESS FOUNDATION
Editor: Henk Ruyssenaars
http://tinyurl.com/2wegpc
The Netherlands
fpf@chello.nl
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Help, help, I'm being repressed!'
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