A number of 2003 Cabinet records, presumed to relate to the Howard Government’s decision to join the war in Iraq, were not transferred to the Archives in 2020, as they should have been for review prior to release yesterday. [1]
“We eagerly anticipate the release of these records,” said Miles Whiticker, President of Pirate Party Australia. “The delay may even prove beneficial — instead of being one tranche of many from 2003, all released in the holiday season, these missing documents will stand alone in the news cycle.”
Transparency — even on a 20 year delay — is vital for maintaining trust. What is known from the releases is that the decision to go to war was made by Cabinet based on “oral reports by the prime minister”. [2]
The Pirate Party believes that no Prime Minister should have the sole authority to commit Australia to war, a position which the recent releases only reinforce. Rather, Australians must not be sent to war without a 2/3rds majority in each house of Parliament. [3]
We urge the Albanese Government to enact war powers reform.
References:
[1]: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/jan/01/morrison-government-failed-to-give-howard-era-national-security-cabinet-papers-to-national-archives
[2]: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/jan/01/australia-went-to-war-in-iraq-based-on-oral-reports-to-cabinet-from-john-howard
[3]: https://pirateparty.org.au/wiki/Platform#Defence.2C_diplomacy_and_aid
3 thoughts on “Howard and Iraq: delayed documents deserve discussion”
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“Australians must not be sent to war without a 2/3rds majority in each house of Parliament.” Period.
Moreover, since the excuse ( at least in the other instance of war crime that was conducted ) was drugs. Not only did one decriminalise one single plant, one cemented the single largest narco state in the world.
Hence one is conducting a modern day opium trade wearing a state uniform this time.
Please decriminalise all drugs in all states that have conducted these war crimes. That is US, UK and Australia. ( Having said that there needs a distinction between old drugs which are habit forming and cause brain and body damage directly like petroleum based inhalers etc and new drugs, mostly herbal )
Criminalising is a human rights violation. Puritanism cannot be used as a shield to hide behind. Puritanism itself is a crime in all senses of the word. This includes a perceived right over others and their bodies and lives.
Moreover a lawyer for the war criminal is not a war criminal because everyone has a right to a fair attorney. The same cannot be said about the courts. If the courts are supporting war crime, then the court is that of a failed state. Please close the courts for giving carte blance for conducting war crimes. Simple evidence shows that it is a weaponised judiciary for the rich alone and no one else.
Moreover the geneva convention says that you have the right to face your enemy. The use of drones speaks of cowardice. Hence the name cowardice applies along with war crimes.
Furthermore, a direct claim is being made here that there was self inflicted harm conducted on each other for insurance claims. And to drum up emotions and rhetoric that there was even an enemy in Afghanistan. Yes this is to settle intra national ( left vs right ) and international ( US vs UK civil war scores ). Mostly to just drum up some death and injury numbers. Yes, a 100-0 number would have lost the elections, so it’s simple, just injure some of your own.
So the words traitor and further cowardice ( self inflicted harm ) comes to mind.
Then comes the matter of baying for blood. Buying unsuspecting people from other nations and conducting harm on them on Australian soil to show the world that “Australians” are suffering too. Yes, again to try and turn the emotional rhetoric.
Hence trafficking. ( Mind one, this is not the usual punching bag, straight forward and legal trade is not to be touched. It is not a crime ). Puritanistic selling of human distress conducted on Australian soil on purchased fake Australians is a human rights nightmare.
Just to confirm, assurances are to be given that one will be called out but not prosecuted. There is no force more useless on earth than that which uses that excuse to keep a state of war constantly on. Yes, the war machinery goes cold and collapses under it’s weight if not used for more than half a day.
REPEAT, there is not a single aircraft in any nation that can handle sitting idle for more than half a day.
Don’t prosecute. No excuse to just keep the war machinery warm. It will collapse. The war machinery.
Don’t prosecute.