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Anti John Howard conspiracy theories?

Perhaps we have been too harsh with the Prime Minister. An email received this week has had us here at http://ChargeJohnHoward.tripod.com rethinking our ideas.

Are all these "John Howard is a criminal liar" claims simply a bunch of conspiracy theories thrown up to effect the election, you be the judge:


When John Howard said in 1995 "There's no way that a GST will ever be part of our policy. Never ever. It's dead. It was killed by the voters in the last election. Any suggestion that I left the door open is absolute nonsense. I didn't. I never will. The last election killed the GST. It's not part of our policy and it won't be part of our policy at any time in the future."(1), and then introduced the GST 3 years later, it simply showed he was able to remain flexible on important issues.

If John Howard said "The Government's position remains that we were advised by Defence that children were thrown overboard, we made those allegations on the basis of that advice, and until I get Defence advice to the contrary I will maintain that position."(2) And former Defence advisor Mike Scrafton says "I left him in no doubt that there was no evidence, that there were no children thrown overboard."(3) I ask who are you going to believe, our Prime Minister or some disgruntled ex-public servant?

When John Howard supports George W Bush, despite the Bush Family owing their fortune to Grandfather Prescott being Hitler's banker(4)(5), and profiteering from the World War II holocaust(6), he is demonstrating his disinterest in the notion of inter-generational guilt.

When Australia joined the coalition of the willing, ignored international condemnation(7), and invaded Iraq, and he showed everyone just how serious he is about ridding the world of terrorists.

Australian Foreign Affairs Minister, Alexander Downer, said in 2002: "Australian intelligence agencies believe there is evidence of a pattern of (Iraq's) acquisition of equipment that could be used in a uranium enrichment program. Iraq's attempted acquisition of very specific types of aluminium tubes may be part of that pattern."(8) The documents indicating this acquisition later proved to be forgeries(9*). This merely reinforces the government's position that Australian intelligence agencies need the extra funding and powers our government have been pushing for(10*).

When the Australian Government was accused of ignoring intelligence reports of a possible terrorist attack in Bali(11*), it just went to show how far conspiracy theorists were prepared to go to achieve their agendas.

If John Howard was quoted in 1995 as saying: "I can promise you that we will follow policies which will, over a period of time, bring down the foreign debt ... our first priority in Government economically will be to tackle the current account deficit."(12) and then blew the current account deficit out to 112% above the 1995 level by September 2003, it just serves as a demonstration of how volatile world money markets can be.

Sure, five years after John Howard proclaimed: "We have no intention of introducing a loans scheme with a real or indeed any other rate of interest."(13) the Department of Education announced "Debts accrued under FEE-HELP will be indexed to the consumer price index (CPI) but are otherwise interest free. A loan fee of 20 per cent will apply to FEE-HELP loans for undergraduate courses of study only."(14) This simply illustrates how often the intentions of even a Prime Minister can be disappointed in the face of an uncertain future.

When John Howard paid his son's company to send out unsolicited bulk emails(15) he was showing us his conviction to the strength of the family unit(16) and the importance of giving your kids a go.

Two days before the 2001 election, when John Howard said: "I mean you have to be able to say that there is a possibility that some people having links with organisations that we don't want in this country might use the path of an asylum seeker in order to get here."(17) he was demonstrating just how alert he was prepared to be in this new age of terrorism - despite the ASIO Director General, Dennis Richardson, telling a Senate committee in June 2002 that from 1 July 2000 until the date he appeared, ASIO had checked 5986 boat people of whom not a single one presented a security risk.(18)

When George W Bush was asked on Feb 10, 2003 "Could you tell us whether you count Australia as part of the coalition of the willing?", and he answered "Yes, I do"(19) - only a day after John Howard had answered the question "In your talks tomorrow, especially at the Pentagon, do you expect to lock in a possible role for Australia if, further down the track we do decide to join a coalition of the willing?" with "Look there have been contingency discussions going on between the American and the Australian military and it's always important in these situations to leave those sorts of things to the militaries of the two countries."(20) it just showed how here in Australia, our politicians are happier to leave the Military stuff up to the military than the Americans.

When John Howard made the difficult decision to allow the US to hold two Australians without due process in Guantanamo Bay(21*) he merely proved just how seriously he takes the threat to Australia from terrorists of all persuasions.

When John Howard dismissed claims that an attack on Iraq would increase Australia's risk of a terrorist attack(22*) despite the British parliamentary inquiry into pre-war intelligence saying that the terrorist threat posed by al-Qaeda would be heightened by military action against Iraq(23*), he was simply spelling it out to the terrorists that we would not be held hostage by them.

If health insurance rates have risen 21% since the 2001 election regardless of John Howard's election promise that his Government's policies would "lead to reduced premiums"(24), it only proves that we do indeed live in a free market where companies can compete on the world market free of political interference.

When forty three former defence officials, diplomats and public servants gave their support to and signed a document demanding more honesty in government(25), it simply proved the old saying "You can't please all the people all the time".

If the Prime Minister said "All I'm telling you is there is no dirt unit, we have not been peddling stuff about his [Mark Latham's] private life and I resent the allegation and I reject it."(26) after a press secretary had already told the Bulletin magazine "Government advisers have been busy 'studying Latham's past' for ammunition to use when Parliament resumes this month. 'I can tell you we are scouring a rich mother lode of material,'"(27) it simply shows how far above the dirty politics of Canberra John Howard keeps himself.

In 1999, John Howard said "I can guarantee we're not going to have $100,000 university degree courses."(28*) If sixteen different degrees now cost $100,000(28*), it simply goes to show how inflation can creep up on even the best of us.

When Philip Ruddock said in 2003 "I have also reports of Australian officials who have on a number of occasions visited Guantanamo Bay and seen detainees. There were no reports of any torture."(29), despite Mamdouh Habib reporting being tortured on his first visit by Australian Authorities, he showed the world that we were not going to take the word of terrorists over the good word of our friends and allies, the United States.

Sure, John Howard said on September 13, 2001 "I've indicated Australia will provide all support that might be requested of us by the United States in relation to any action that might be taken."(30) But a year later, when he said "We won't just automatically click our heels and follow the Americans."(31) he was simply pointing out that our soldiers are too manly than to go about clicking their heels.

When John Howard telling SBS's Insight program on November 8, 2001 "Nothing can alter the fact that I have in my possession an ONA report that states baldly, as I said at the National Press Club today, that children were thrown in the water."(32) is compared to the Acting Chief of the Defence Forces, Angus Houston, telling Minister for Defence, Peter Reith, a day earlier "fundamentally there was nothing to suggest that women and children had been thrown into the water."(33) it simply highlights that even our intelligence agencies can come up different conclusions to similar intelligence. Anyway the polls leading up to the election the following day show that this exact quote would have had little impact on the election outcome.

When John Howard's opponents bagged John Howard's top secret visit to Australian troops in Baghdad, under the cover of darkness(34), they showed just how low they were prepared to crawl.

In his Feb 2003 pre-war speech to Parliament, John Howard said "The Australian Government knows that Iraq still has chemical and biological weapons and that Iraq wants to develop nuclear weapons."(35) And only time will tell exactly where these weapons were hidden.

When John Howard took money out of Medicare while giving more money to the private health system in the form of subsidies for privately insured Australians(36) he demonstrated his conviction to seeing Australian financially stronger through a strong private sector.

When John Howard's told Parliament "I did not personally have any discussions, from recollection, with any (Ethanol Industry lobbyists)."(37*) and was subsequently proven to be wrong, it was an example of how, as a conscientious politician, he speaks with so many interest groups he can't always remember all of them.

In Nov 2003 John howard said "If we can't get something quite big on agriculture then we won't have a free trade agreement, we won't."(38) The fact that sugar has subsequently excluded and beef and dairy exports will be limited(39) only shows how dedicated John Howard was to reaching an agreement on free trade for all Australians, not just noisy interest groups.

When John Howard said in October 2003 "We had clear intelligence assessments that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction capability."(40) the Flood Report(41) had not yet found that Australia's intelligence was really an uncritical mish mash of unsubstantiated foreign reports, what do you expect from him? Psychic abilities?

On August 21, 1996, Kerry O'Brien asked "Okay. But on 20 February, you said very clearly 'We are certainly going to maintain the existing level of funding for labour market programs'. Now, for all the people on those labour market programs, I would suggest it to them that would have been a pretty core promise and you've broken it." To which John Howard responded "Well, it is true that we are not spending as much money on labour market programs."(42) If this is not an example of honesty, what is?

When John Howard said "This week, the Times of London detailed the use of a human shredding machine as a vehicle for putting to death critics of Saddam Hussein. This is the man, this is the apparatus of terror we are dealing with."(43) it merely showed that he does in fact like to keep up with world news, regardless of whether the machine existed or not.

When John Howard's February 2003 claim "Iraq continues to work on developing nuclear weapons-uranium has been sought from Africa that has no civil nuclear application in Iraq; . . ."(44) was corrected by Alexander Downer in July that year(45) it proved that we have an open and honest government who are prepared to own up to their mistakes.



References:

(1) 4 Corners Story May 18, 1998: Never Say Never
http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/s12274.htm

(2) Lateline Nov 9, 2001: The end of the trail
http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2001/s413164.htm

(3) 7.30 Report Aug 16,2004: Scrafton stands by children overboard claim
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2004/s1177955.htm

(4) New Hampshire Gazette Oct 10, 2003: Bush-Nazi Link Confirmed
http://www.nhgazette.com/cgi-bin/NHGstore.cgi? user_action=detail&catalogno=NN_Bush_Nazi_Link

(5) The Bush Crime Family: Proving the theories: Scan of Vesting Order 248
http://bushcrimefamily.tripod.com/

(6) Jewish.com: Heir to the Holocaust - Prescott Bush, 1.5 Million Dollars, and Auschwitz...
http://jewish.com/modules.php?name=News&file=print&sid=769

(7) Amnesty International Press Release: USA/Iraq - Not in the name of human rights
http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/engMDE140092002?OpenDocument&of=COUNTRIES%5CIRAQ

(8) Sep 17, 2002 Speech by The Minister for Foreign Affairs: Iraq - Weapons of Mass Destruction
http://www.foreignminister.gov.au/speeches/2002/020917_fa_iraq_wmd.html

(9) Sydney Morning Herald * Jun 21, 2003: The garbage intelligence that helped to unleash a war
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/06/20/1055828490548.html

(10) The Melbourne Age * Nov 4, 2003: Ruddock restarts push for tougher law
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/11/03/1067708138018.html?from=storyrhs

(11) The Melbourne Age * Feb 26, 2004: Aust ignored FBI Bali warnings: report
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/02/26/1077676872965.html

(12) Australian Labor Party: Truth Overboard - 27 Lies told by John Howard and counting
http://www.alp.org.au/features/lies.html

(13) 7.30 Report Oct 18, 1999: Wooldridge joins Kemp as Labor attacks alleged budget leak
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/stories/s60263.htm

(14) Education Department Fact Sheet March 2004: Higher Education Loan Programme - FEE-HELP & OS-HELP
http://www.backingaustraliasfuture.gov.au/fact_sheets/6.htm

(15) news.com.au Aug 27, 2004: PM pays son to spam
http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,10584035%255E15306,00.html

(16) Prime Minister's website Jul 29, 2004: Announcement of Family Law Package
http://www.pm.gov.au/news/speeches/speech1035.html

(17) Prime Minister's Website Nov 7, 2001: Transcript of Melbourne Press Conference
http://www.pm.gov.au/news/interviews/2001/interview1452.htm

(18) Human Rights Council of Australia Nov 14, 2002: Without prejudice - discrimination and refugees
http://www.hrca.org.au/discrim%20and%20refugees.htm

(19) Whitehouse.gov Feb 10, 2003: Remarks by the President and Prime Minister Howard of Australia in Photo Opportunity - The Oval Office
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/02/20030210-10.html

(20) Prime Minister's Website Feb 9, 2003: Transcript of Washington DC Press Conference
http://www.pm.gov.au/news/interviews/Interview214.html

(21) Sydney Morning Herald * Feb 26, 2003: Rights missing in action and still Labor can't stop the rot
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/02/25/1046064028641.html

(22) Sydney Morning Herald * Mar 20, 2003: Terrorist onslaught on the way or no greater risk
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/03/19/1047749827645.html

(23) The Melbourne Age * Sep 13, 2003: PM 'misled' on risk of terrorism
http://theage.com.au/articles/2003/09/12/1063341777504.html

(24) www.JohnHowardLies.com - Health
http://www.johnhowardlies.com/Health.htm

(25) The World Today Aug 9, 2004: Former defence chiefs criticise Howard's Iraq policy in open letter
http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2004/s1172059.htm

(26) Prime Minister's Website - Jul 6, 2004: Interview with John Miller & Ross Davie, 4BC, Brisbane
http://www.pm.gov.au/news/interviews/Interview970.html

(27) Techne-Ventures.com - Bulletin Article Jan 28, 2004: School of Hard Knocks
http://host.techne-ventures.com/bulletin/EdDesk.nsf/All/9F040D2E1E187AFECA256E240017156B

(28) The Melbourne Age * Aug 28, 2004: Lies, damned lies, and politics
http://www.theage.com.au/text/articles/2004/08/27/1093518098359.html

(29) Victorian Peace Network: End the Lies campaign
http://www.vicpeace.org/lies/lies.html

(30) Australian Centre for Independent Journalism Sep 15, 2001: Here's hoping Bush doesn't cash in our blank cheque
http://www.reportage.uts.edu.au/stories/2001/15ramsey2.html

(31) Prime Minister's Website Sep 5, 2002: Doorstop Interview Brisbane
http://www.pm.gov.au/news/interviews/2002/interview1825.htm

(32) SBS Insight Transcript Nov 8, 2001: Interview with John Howard
http://www.sbs.com.au/insight/trans.php3?transid=317

(33) TruthOverboard.com : A certain maritime incident
http://www.truthoverboard.com/story5.html

(34) ABC News Online Apr 26, 2004: PM's Iraq visit draws mixed reaction
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1094530.htm

(35) The Guardian Jun 16, 2003: Spinning out of control
http://www.guardian.co.uk/elsewhere/journalist/story/0,7792,978593,00.html

(36) Doctors Reform Society of Australia Jun 26, 2003: Politics in the Pub - Private Health Insurance and Medicare
http://www.drs.org.au/articles/2003/art14.htm

(37) The Melbourne Age * Aug 12, 2003: PM attacked over 'secret' meeting
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/08/11/1060588321348.html

(38) Pakistan Daily Times Nov 22, 2003: Howard to ditch US trade deal if agri demands not met
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_22-11-2003_pg5_18

(39) San Francisco Gate May 15, 2004: U.S., Australia commerce to leap forward with free trade agreement
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/05/15/BUG386LV881.DTL

(40) Asian Political News Oct 6, 2003: Howard defends Australia's involvement in war on Iraq
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0WDQ/is_2003_Oct_6/ai_108553595

(41) World Socialist Website July 30, 2004: Another Australian whitewash
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/jul2004/intel-j30.shtml

(42) Australian Labor Part website: Truth Overboard - 27 Lies told by John Howard and counting
http://www.alp.org.au/features/lies.html

(43) Crikey.com Mar 4, 2003: Howard's biggest Iraq porky?
http://www.crikey.com.au/politics/2004/03/04-0002.html

(44) Dept. of Prime Minister & Cabinet Website Feb 4, 2003: John Howard's Statement on Iraq
http://www.dpmc.gov.au/docs/iraq-statement_04-02-2003e.cfm

(45) Lateline Jul 17, 2003: Downer confident of Iraq weapons' intelligence
http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2003/s905538.htm


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