Editorial:

"Wrong and dangerous"

The recent statement by 43 of the most senior former military 
chiefs and diplomats reflects widespread opposition and rejection 
of the Howard Government's foreign policy. In their strongly 
worded statement, the 43 eminent Australians reject the 
Government's decision to invade Iraq on "false assumptions" and 
its use of "deception". It says that governments "must give 
priority to truth" and that "Australians must be able to believe 
they are being told the truth by our leaders". The statement 
notes that "the international prestige of the United States and 
its Presidency has fallen precipitously over the last two years" 
and, because of Australia's "unquestioning support of the Bush 
Administration's policy, Australia has also been adversely 
affected".

The outcome of the US, British and Australian invasion of Iraq 
has been "destructive", especially for Iraq, and the 
"international system has been subjected to enormous pressure". 
The 43 eminent persons call for "genuine partnership" with the 
United States "and not just a rubber stamp for policies decided 
in Washington".

This echoes the public perception that the Howard Government is a 
trained monkey of the Bush administration, aping every single 
nuance of US policy. The signatories see a need for "more 
carefully balanced policies", and for them to be applied to our 
relations with the nations of Asia and the South-West Pacific, 
"especially at the United Nations". The statement declares that 
"it is wrong and dangerous for our elected representatives to 
mislead the Australian people if Australia is to be trusted by 
others".

Howard and Downer immediately dismissed the statement as coming 
from "former" service personnel and diplomats suggesting that 
their age rendered their opinions out of date and not relevant to 
the post-September 11 (2001) world situation.

Former chief of the Defence Forces, General Peter Gration was 
then stirred into action by the Government's arrogance, saying 
that "it was not right for the government to blame mistakes on 
intelligence failures. This was a policy failure", he said. 
General Gration dismissed the claim by Howard and Downer that the 
statement was only the views of "former" military men and 
diplomats. "I can tell you that [a] number of serving officers do 
share these concerns, and serving diplomats too." Indicating that 
it was not just a question of the deception relating to the Iraq 
war, the General said, "Demonstrably, over the last year or two, 
truth in government has been less than it should be".

Discontent with the present Liberal Party leadership is not 
confined to foreign relations. In the same week as the statement 
was issued, the Valder campaign was launched to unseat John 
Howard in his electorate. John Valder has impeccable conservative 
credentials as a former president of the Liberal Party and 
stockbroker and chairman of the Sydney Stock Exchange. He is fed 
up with the "grubby" Howard Government. His concerns include its 
demonising of refugees, university funding, Tampa, kids 
overboard, Guantanamo Bay, the move towards autocratic leadership 
and the threat to democratic principles.

There are a host of other issues and lies told that could be 
added to that list, such as Medicare, Australian sovereignty, 
union bashing and, most recently, the blatant lies on the merits 
of the Free Trade Agreement with the United States.

Opposition to Howard within military, diplomatic, business and 
intellectual circles is widespread and will not go away quickly. 
There are deep divisions within the ruling class. The Howard 
Government, having mounted the tiger of military aggression, 
cannot climb down. It will have to be thrown out.

The Labor Party is not without sin, either. Instead of opposing 
the Iraq war and the FTA on principle it has shilly-shallied on 
these vital issues. It went along with the lies told on the Tampa 
affair when Kim Beazley was leader. By voting for the FTA Labor 
will become equally culpable as jobs are lost, US Mickey Mouse 
culture takes over, the US drug companies insist on their 
"intellectual property rights" and the many other negatives of 
the FTA become apparent.

It is past time for real alternative political leaders to come 
forward — the sort of leaders just given a resounding vote of 
confidence by the working people and the poor in Venezuela.