Antinuclear

Australia, like UK, should hold Inquiry into Iraq war

… revelations of coalition support for or direct participation in torture and indiscriminate killings were revealed in the massive cache of classified military documents released by Wikileaks in 2010.

Nor are the consequences limited to Iraq. Australia, as well as the rest of the world, is significantly less safe. Our civil liberties have been severely impinged by wave after wave of anti terrorism legislation supposedly designed to protect us…….

Now is the time for an Australian inquiry into the Iraq War – On Line Opinion -Chris Doran,  28/1/2011 The 2003 invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq have been an unparalleled disaster for the Iraqi people, with estimates as high as a million plus who have died directly as a result, over 4 million people who have been displaced out of a population of 23 million, and a country ripped apart by sectarian violence. All a product of an invasion and occupation that Australia was proudly a part of. So proud, in fact, that it was willing to commit military forces to the invasion, one of only four nations to do so along with the US, UK, and Poland.

That war crimes were committed by the coalition in Iraq is beyond dispute. The ‘Shock and Awe’ of the invasion itself, the torture scandal of Abu Ghraib, the war profiteering and corruption of the occupation, and the indiscriminate killing of civilians and excessive use of force by coalition forces are just some of the many incidents of war crimes that have received intense international media attention. Further revelations of coalition support for or direct participation in torture and indiscriminate killings were revealed in the massive cache of classified military documents released by Wikileaks in 2010.

Nor are the consequences limited to Iraq. Australia, as well as the rest of the world, is significantly less safe. Our civil liberties have been severely impinged by wave after wave of anti terrorism legislation supposedly designed to protect us…….

Any Inquiry should also address the innumerable allegations of horrific atrocities committed under the command of Australian General Jim Molan by coalition forces during the brutal assault at Fallujah in 2004 (see ‘The reality of Australia’s collateral damage in Iraq’, 4 August 2008 in Online Opinion), and evidence that the Royal Australian Air Force knowingly and deliberately provided cover for American ground troops firing cluster bombs on heavily populated civilian areas during the invasion. It should also include Australia’s disgraceful role in supporting American torture and persecution of Australian citizens David Hicks and Mamdouh Habib, and the overzealous persecution of anti-war protesters and perceived radical Islamic groups……..

It is a sad statement of our political culture that many Australians cannot believe that their country is important enough in the doings of world affairs to matter. This is in part what allows the present Labor leadership to act as if Iraq simply never happened. Julia Gillard and former PM Kevin Rudd have continued to follow the US lead with every bit as salivating lap dog enthusiasm as Howard did, despite little having changed in US foreign policy under Barack Obama. Guantanamo Bay remains open and still houses what has now been revealed beyond any doubt innocent victims; torture still occurs;……..

There have now been numerous attempts to hold Bush Administration officials accountable for their actions regarding Iraq, and there is now the ongoing Chilcot Inquiry in the UK, where both Blair and Brown have been forced to testily. Yet the Australian Government acts as if Iraq simply never happened.

Now is the time for an Australian inquiry into the Iraq War – On Line Opinion – 28/1/2011

February 1, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, secrets and lies | secrets and lies