Iraq revisionism hits Australian government
Apparently, they're having an outbreak of
revisionism, accompanied by memory loss, in Australia as well. Before, the war, as in the US and Britain, there were blood-curdling tales of massive stocks of WMD in Iraq, waiting to be unleashed upon Western civilization. Now:
After a six-week recess Parliament resumed on May 13 for the budget. Iraq remained all-but ignored. Three weeks of sittings were dominated by the Hollingworth serial and Labor's leadership pantomime. Labor's Harry Jenkins (Vic) told the House a week ago: "There has been an eerie silence on Iraq since this Parliament reconvened - only two speeches [by Howard and Simon Crean]. If you compare this to the lengthy debates [before the invasion] you will see how ironic the silence is."
Labor's Kevin Rudd asked the Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, the next day about US and British intelligence failures in the assessment of stockpiled Iraqi chemical and biological weapons, now a major issue in London and Washington. Downer replied, stoically: "[Australian intelligence assessments] remain confident in the judgement that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction materials and capability in the lead-up to the war. Over time - we have to be patient - we will get a comprehensive picture of Saddam Hussein's weapons program."
Labor dropped the issue. There has been no debate and only the occasional question. In Adelaide at the weekend, Howard at the Liberals' national convention dealt with Iraq almost as a minor issue. He referred to it only as "the war to liberate the people of Iraq, now in the minds of many rather a distant memory". And he added, almost as an afterthought: "Can I say I remain of the view there will be evidence, ultimately emerging, of the WMDs we referred to before the war started."
Hahaha..."referred to". Those nutty Australian leaders.
Posted by Manumission @
03:37 |
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