 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Two down, one to go:Blair and Bush face impeachment - What about our own Man of Steal? http://chargeJohnHoward.tripod.com notes George Bush and Tony Blair are both currently facing calls for impeachment over their unprovoked illegal attack on Iraq. It was illegal by international law, it was illegal by US law, it was illegal by British law, and it was illegal by Australian law. Will Australians now have the backbone to see John Howard face justice? In late 2001, The USA first revved up its coalition of the willing and, along with Great Britain and a limited number of other countries, rolled their war machine into the already battle-ravaged country of Afghanistan. They moved to overthrow Afghanistan's struggling government and install a puppet regime subservient to the US. Australia was the very first country at the time to put their hand up and say "us too". In March 2003, the USA and Great Britain again mobilised their war machine against an impoverished nation in order to replace an unfriendly regime with one more pliable; this time in Iraq. Again Australia was the first to raise their hand and say "us too". Only this time, no one else followed. As a result, we are now seeing moves to impeach both the US leader, George W Bush and his British co-conspirator, Tony Blair. Both leaders are facing calls for impeachment from within their own nations. Strangely, though, Australians have so far remained silent. Have we finally found our backbone, or has any backbone we may have once had finally been broken? For Australia to attack both Iraq and Afghanistan, the Australian people needed only to remain silent and impotent. True, we actually spoke up before the Iraq war, but our impotence allowed our Prime Minister to do exactly as he pleased anyway. Exactly what pleased John Howard in 2003 was to keep a promise to his mate, George W Bush; a core promise he gave on September 13, 2001, when he said "Australia will provide all support that might be requested of us by the United States in relation to any action that might be taken." The reason George W Bush and Tony Blair are currently staring down legal troubles in their own countries is because what they did in Iraq was simply illegal. It was illegal by international law, it was illegal by US law, it was illegal by British law, and it was illegal by Australian law. In all three countries, the cheer squads for each respective leader are saying "It's too late. We went in, we freed the Iraqi people from the rule of a bloodthirsty tyrant, we've delivered democracy and the rule of law to the country. Get over it." Unfortunately, it's the hypocrisy of these kinds of statements that we really can't get over. If we want to go around raising the living standards of oppressed people around the world, we really should start in our own backyards. Saddam is accused of being a ruthless dictator. We're now told, in the absence of any Weapons of Mass Destruction that's why we got rid of him. If you listened to our leaders on the day we entered Iraq, and every day since, we were engaged in Operation Iraqi Freedom. We were freeing the Iraqi people from the stranglehold of a ruthless dictator. The problem is that a sign of a ruthless dictator is his belief he is above the law and at liberty to do whatever he likes. When our leaders ignored international and local laws to depose Saddam, they became exactly what they were fighting against. Welcome to the new Iraq, people. New boss: same as the old boss. When our leaders "Shocked and Awed" the Iraqi people into submission, they terrorised them in exactly the same way we were supposedly terrorised by Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda organisation on September 11, 2001. (Strangely, while a link between al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein was canvassed heavily before the war, no link has ever been proven since.) In the last week, whilst George W Bush and his criminal gang held their Republican National Convention in New York City, thousands of US citzens took to the streets bearing clothing and banners demanding his impeachment. Meanwhile, across the Atlantic in Great Britain, eleven Members of Parliament are preparing to table a motion, on the resumption of Parliament, that will force Tony Blair to appear before the Commons to defend his own record in the run up to the Iraq invasion. British MP, Adam Price, has told the media "To dust off Victorian constitutional histories and examine precedents from the time of Charles I and Chaucer may seem bizarre. But the conduct of the Prime Minister has left people and parliament with no alternative if we are to preserve the very basis of democracy." Now it is Australia's turn. It seems the British model of being able to count on our own elected representatives to enforce the rule of law in this country is doomed to failure so we have no choice but to follow the US model and demand, from the ground up, that our leaders are held accountable for their deeds. We show our leaders what we will accept from them in every reaction we make to their actions. To allow John howard to get away with his criminal maneuvering would be an indictment on us all. To allow John howard to pass away into mediocrity, suffering only snickered jibes at his expense whilst paying him a handsome Prime Ministers superannuation package, rather than jailing him like we would any other common con-man and murderer, we are truly condemning the people of Iraq, not to mention ourselves, to life under the rule of tyrants. References:The Guardian - Aug 26, 2004 : MPs plan to impeach Blair over Iraq war record Two websites dedicated to impeaching George W Bush The Charge John Howard website |
Appreciate our efforts?
|