Shannon War Port - Aussies, Brits, Yanks & FF AGM

national | anti-war / imperialism | news report

Friday October 10, 2003 20:07

by Ciaron - Dublion Catholic Worker

OZ Senate Censures PM on War On Eve of King George Visit

The Australian Senate has censured Prime Minister Howard on the eve of the Bush visit. Robin Cook resigned as minister recently stating Britain went to war because Blair found easier to stand up to British public opinion than to stand up to Bush. 92,617 US troops passed through Shannon on the way to war sinnce Jan 1st,Irish Govt spent 1.82 million euro defending the militarised airport from the peace movement, Aer Rianta made 11 million euro blood money, disarmament activists face up to 10 years accused of 4 million euro "crim dam" (sic). Will there be a dissenting voice at the FF AGM. How colonised and housebroken are these people? A moral message of neutrality, anti-colonialism, peace and justice to the Irish diaspora in the U.S. would/could be significant.

Senate censure PM over war
October 7, 2003

THE Senate today censured Prime Minister John Howard for misleading the people of Australia over the reasons for going to war with Iraq.

The Opposition, Greens and Australian Democrats voted together to defeat the government by 33 votes to 30.

The censure motion was initially proposed by Greens Senator Bob Brown but amended by Labor.

Senator Brown said Mr Howard was involved in an unprecedented deceit of the nation and deserved censure.

He said Mr Howard had declared that Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and support of international terrorism threatened Australia and its people.

"It was under those those circumstances of imminent, direct, undeniable and lethal threat to the Australian people that Prime Minister Howard asked our defence forces to take part in the invasion of Iraq," he said.

"It has become abundantly clear that the prime minister was not just a bit wrong. He was totally wrong."

Defence Minister Robert Hill said the Australian government and others believed Saddam Hussein's weapons programs was a very real danger.

"The issues are important but the process Senator Brown has adopted today is nothing more than a stunt and should be treated as such," he said.

"There is certainly no basis to censure the prime minister. If there is a basis for anything it's to applaud the fact that we have a prime minister who has the courage to take difficult decisions."

Opposition Senate Leader John Faulkner said Mr Howard had been loose with the truth and deserved censure.

"He really ought to admit he misled the nation over the reason for taking Australia into the war with Iraq," he said.

"The bottom line is you do not announce your country is going to war, you don't announce that you are committing Australian defence Force personnel to a war zone using what are increasingly looking like false pretexts.

"That is not on. You have to be sure what you are doing is right and is being done for the right reasons. I say Mr Howard was not sure. He was very loose with the truth."

Democrats Senator Lyn Allison said few Australians would dispute that they had been lied to over the pre-emptive attack on Iraq.

"It's quite possible our prime minister and our minister for foreign affairs were also lied to. I accept that this is a strong possibility," she said.

"So keen were they to join the US on the world stage and strut their stuff that I believe this government didn't care."

AAP

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Comments (6 of 6)

Defence Forces?

by noel naework

Sat Oct 11, 2003 08:46

Attack is the best form of defence, If Prince Machiavelli had rode into iraq, the theory would be proven by now. The Political leaders lack the courage of their intentions, fools their people will suffer.

you watch the football results Noel.

by iosaf

Sat Oct 11, 2003 12:44

the phrase "attack is the best form of defence" is not sourced to The Prince by Machiavelli, and is most popular in football circles.
In the last week alone it is featured as a sports headline with regard to the FA cup.

Of the many yawn yawn primary reading texts, IMC ireland has seen reference made to four in the past week, Bunreach na hEirinn (the Irish constitution), The Prince by Machiavelli, Capital by Mr Marx, and of course Leviathon by Hobbes.

Now you _must be very careful_ of your reading lists. Please take the time to at least read the books you make reference to. Please note that the Prince is a possibly satirical review of the problems facing two distinctly different styles of government - kingdom and republic. Oh and that it was written and first put to press _a long time ago_ way before football and a good while before the modern notion of "state" had even begun. Oh and before the USA as well. But sure didn't Dev carry a copy in his great coat,- so said the bishop.

I think one thing that one certainly gleans from reading if only once something of such recurrent popularity as "The Prince", is that football and government are very different. Indeed Machiavelli seems to ponder through the seventeenth to nineteenth chapters on the rôle played by vice and virtue in the "prince". And he seems to plum for thinking that "leaders" ought not display the same mixture of such "qualities" (yawn yawn remember those qualities hail from a different schematic time, phlegmy and sanguinely misunderstood) as those displayed by the "subjects" or "ruled".

So Noel, Machievelli a man who saw no war in his life, if alive would probably have counselled quite differently to how you suspect.

Pacifism.
Anarchism.
Socialism.
Ecologism.
and some reading as well. It's great to be literate. This is not a creative comment, this is an instructive comment.

is attack the best form of defence?

by capitalist

Sat Oct 11, 2003 12:48

A Competing Risks Analysis of Acquisition Activity in the UK.

Creation: May 1999
Keywords: Takeovers; Acquisitions; Bankruptcy; Competing Risks
authors:Andrew P. Dickerson,Heather D. Gibson
,Euclid Tsakalotos

Homework:
find out how many bankruptcy cases have been brought before the Irish courts in the last 3 years.

Defence is a attack in denial

Sat Oct 11, 2003 14:19

Football is a beautiful game where possession is the best form of attack and defence. Just As possession is the best form of oil price manipulation, and other capitalist sport. However, possession is not good for liberation of people.

what exactly is censure

by pc

Sat Oct 11, 2003 16:27

what does it mean for howard?

Response to previous post

by Ciaron - Brisbane Catholic Worker ('82-'95)

Mon Oct 13, 2003 14:19

The White House briefing for Bush's visit names the Australian Prime Minister as "John Major". So that was definitely an ego blow!

A censure from the Upper House, the State's House (Australia being a relatively weak federation of 6 former British colonies, with the Queen's representative the Governor General as head of state) is significant in a symbolic sense.

Australian military history of total military sychophancy to British (putting down a Maori uprising, Boer War, WW1, Malay counter insurgency) and US (the rest) imperialism gets questioned.

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Shannon War Port - Aussies, Brits, Yanks & FF AGM

Comments (6 of 6)