The following article was published in "The Guardian", newspaper of the
Communist Party of Australia in its issue of Wednesday, September 3rd, 2003.
Contact address: 65 Campbell Street, Surry Hills. Sydney. 2010 Australia.
Phone: (612) 9212 6855 Fax: (612) 9281 5795.
CPA Central Committee: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
"The Guardian": <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Webpage: http://www.cpa.org.au>
Subscription rates on request.
******************************
Editorial : Once again on WMD lies
Irrespective of the outcome of the various inquiries that are taking
place in Britain, Australia and the US the fact of the matter is that
the war against Iraq was based on monumental lies - there were no
weapons of mass destruction.
For four months before the invasion, United Nations weapons inspectors
scoured the country and found nothing. In the four months since the
invasion and occupation nothing has been found. The US, British, and
Australian authorities are now deadly quiet on this issue.
It passes belief that the extremely sophisticated intelligence agencies
of these countries, plus their numerous spy satellites and the use of
the spy station at Pine Gap did not know or inform their governments.
Bush, Blair and Howard must have known the truth from the very beginning
but they were determined to launch a war against Iraq and to impose an
occupation force on the country. There are plenty of recorded statements
by the politicians who are now part of the Bush administration to prove
that this invasion was planned years before it actually took place.
The various inquiries are therefore nothing but charades to cover up the
lies of the politicians and the so-called intelligence organisations.
Any assumption that intelligence agencies are independent of governments
is a nonsense.
Of course there are honest men and women among them. In Australia,
Andrew Wilkie is one. There have also been a number who have broken
ranks with the CIA in the past for its lies and dirty tricks. The name
of Phillip Agee springs to mind. Dr Kelly is possibly another. Whatever
his role he seems to have paid the price of being a whistle-blower.
(That a doctor who would have access to any number of lethal drugs by
which to commit suicide should choose to slash his wrists seems unlikely).
The fact that the statements of Andrew Wilkie are also very close to the
bone provide good reasons why he should also take care. His declaration
that the intelligence information was "skewed, misrepresented, used
selectively and fabricated" has caused the Prime Minister to attack him
personally in the strongest terms.
The real intention of the Australian Parliamentary inquiry is to save
the hides of John Howard and his band of lying Ministers, not to expose
the lies used to justify the invasion of Iraq. At best it will show some
discrepancy between what the Office of National Assessment said and how
this was presented by Howard to the Australia people. But even that is
uncertain.
None of the Liberal and Labor Party politicians on the inquiry have any
interest in exposing the leaders of their respective parties by bringing
out the truth, given the role they all played in the Iraq invasion.
Furthermore, some of their "evidence" will be heard in secret. It's just
a joke.
On the question of terrorism that was also used as a justification for
war, there was never any evidence that the Saddam Hussein regime was
involved in what has become known as international terrorism. That he
terrorised his own people, yes, but this is not to say that his regime
was involved internationally.
The anarchy that the US and British occupation has created by completely
destroying any semblance of government in Iraq has opened the way for
the creation of groups so disaffected by what has been done, that they
resort to terrorist methods in an attempt to protest.
We are witnessing, and this is the reality, the imposition of state
terrorism by the US, British and Australian authorities. Their troops
are involved in many of the killings, the smashing down of doors and the
looting to order that took place in the early days of the occupation.
Who is to say that they have not also been behind the bombing of the UN
headquarters in Baghdad, the Jordanian Embassy and the recent killing of
the Shiite cleric in Najaf?
The US occupation forces are now faced with the failure of their plans
and the use of staged provocations that can be blamed on others is a
time-honoured method by which to divert attention.
****************************************************************************
--
--
Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/
Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop
Sub: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Unsub: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
