US alliance endangers Australia

The bomb that exploded outside the Australian embassy in 
Jakarta last week, killing and wounding innocent people, was an 
abhorrent act and the direct result of Australia's participation 
in the US-led war on Iraq. The Howard Government and its backers 
are denying this in the face of all logic and evidence.

A web site has posted an unverified claim attributing the bombing 
to Jemaah Islamiya, but whoever did it the reason is clear — the 
US, along with Australia, Britain and a few others are carrying 
out a war and occupation that is opposed and in many cases 
despised the world over.

When earlier this year Federal Police Commissioner Bill Keelty, 
obviously on the advice of intelligence sources, stated that 
Australia's participation in the war made it a more likely target 
for a terrorist attack, the Government moved swiftly to make him 
publicly retract his statement.

This is because it would be political poison for people to 
conclude that the Government's warmongering alliance with the 
Bush administration is threatening Australia's national security 
and endangering its people.

Election damage control has been put in motion by the Government, 
not only by denials but through right-wing commentators promoting 
the idea that terrorists make attacks with the goal of bring down 
governments.

As an example, they point to the downfall of the Spanish 
Government of Jose Maria Aznar after a terrorist bomb attack on a 
commuter train just prior to a national election. Aznar in fact 
lied to the Spanish people — who were already incensed that he 
had committed the country to war in Iraq — about who was behind 
the attack.

It was the people who voted Aznar out, in a landslide election. 
The new government withdrew Spanish forces from Iraq and was 
applauded internationally for it.

The Howard Government is also beating its chest, saying it won't 
have its foreign policy dictated by terrorists. But the root 
cause of acts such as the bombing in Jakarta is that the USA is 
dictating Australia's foreign policy. This subservience and 
commitment to America's global strategies, which includes endless 
war, is the reason for Australia's growing pariah status in the 
eyes of the international community.

Australia should withdraw its troops from Iraq, and the first 
step in that direction will be by voting Howard out on October 9.