My following article appears in yesterday’s Guardian Comment is Free section:
In the days before the 2003 Iraq invasion, the Australian prime minister, John Howard, committed the country to war with a majority of citizens against the deployment. Howard said that, “the government strongly believes that the decision it has taken is right, it is legal [and] it is directed towards the protection of the Australian national interest.”
Nearly four years later, Howard is virtually alone internationally in his pro-war rhetoric. For him, standing by the US president, George Bush, is a sign of strength and mateship, even if the war was lost at least two years ago. Howard’s main argument for arrogantly maintaining around 1,450 troops in Iraq (against the will of the Iraqi people) is that, “you either stay or you go, you either rat on the ally or you don’t”.
Howard’s recent foray into the American presidential campaign, by criticising Democratic hopeful Barack Obama and claiming al-Qaida is hoping for his victory, is both counterproductive and displays a level of unnecessary hubris that leaves Australia increasingly isolated in the American capital.
Although a growing number of Australians feel distinctly uncomfortable with its closeness to Washington, Howard’s gaffe is aimed squarely at a domestic audience. The new Labor opposition leader, Kevin Rudd, is riding high in the polls and is the first serious challenge to Howard’s 11-year leadership (an election is due by the end of the year.) Rudd, while unconvincingly not setting a timetable for Australian troops in Iraq to be withdrawn, clearly states the view of Australia’s majority when he says that the country’s deployment is Australia’s greatest foreign policy failure since the Vietnam war.
Even Murdoch’s Australian newspaper, a long-time supporter of the invasion and “liberation”, has questioned Howard’s Obama misstep.
The defence minister, Brendan Nelson, talks of a US military defeat that:
“… will present my children with a vastly different, less secure world than they face today and under no circumstances should we allow ourselves, if you like, to lose morale muscular and to step back from this.”
Nelson argues for the Iraqi security forces to step up while ignoring the fact that the sectarian-ridden army is part of the problem.
Howard has forgotten that the Australia/US alliance is more than the Bush administration. His allegiance to the neoconservative, “regime change” agenda has shown Australia to be the most useless kind of ally: an obedient one.
Way to go Ant,
Great to see your articles getting such a wide audience.
A fellow expat made an interesting point the other day. Howard’s embarrassing comments are probably motivated by a desire to please someone in return to curry favor.
Like Blair, one gets the feeling that after he leaves politics, Howard will have a plum job with a fat paycheck awaiting him - most likely in the US.
Well said, you’ve hit the nail right on the head - Howard’s slip up exposed him out in the open in regard to his personal loyalty to Bush and not to the alliance. Rudd has done well this week, I think, in drilling him.
If Howard has a job waiting with the Carlyle Group or News Corp, it’s time he went and took it up.
John Howard is only doing what any Australian Prime Minister is beholden to do, and that is to support the American alliance. Australia is in a difficult position being at the bottom of the pacific with billions of third world people next door in Asia. Japan’s ability to bomb Darwin and threaten Sydney brought this fact home and cemented Australia’s submissiveness to the USA.
Australia passed up it’s opportunity to obtain nuclear weapons when the Brits were testing in Australia in the 1950’s. Had Australia become a nuclear power its dependence on America for defensive support would be much less today. This subservient situation has placed Australians in the situation of being on the losing end of most of the wars it has fought.
The cost now to re-arm and build a defense force capable of repelling any threat to the continent would be astronomical, and until Australians can find a way to make men civilised we are stuck with the alliance, like it or lump it.
We need to stop blaming John and start look at how we can save face when the USA asks its allies to support its maniacal war machine. John unfortunately went overboard with his enthusiasm for wthe American way, now he’s stuck with it and so are we. In order to move on John needs to go and a new face can put new spin on the alliance.