If The Shoe Fits...

Wow. Just saw the footage of Johnny Howard having shoes thrown at him during last night’s Q&A program on the ABC. Now both he and Dubya have had to duck and weave to avoid a pair of stinky size 10s. Just Blair to go and then we’ll have the full ‘Triple Entente’ covered.

Which leads me to the whole notion of the Iraq War. I’m not going to delve fully into my feelings/thoughts on it as that would mean sitting at this computer for the next few days. But I just need to record my overwhelming opposition to the War from the very beginning, as evidenced by one of the only times I've ever marched at a political rally, and of course now that its been a monumental mistake with untold lives effected and resources chewed up.

Yes, after September 11, the US had to respond to Al Qaeda and go into Afghanistan and try and smoke out Bin Laden and his Taliban mates. Understood that. In fact, I supported it.

But going into Iraq as well was an error for the ages as it took a lot of resources and public support away from the ‘just’ war in Afghanistan and meant we all got stuck in the bogmire in Baghdad, Basra and co (not me personally obviously, but the young men who make up our respective defence forces). Not too mention the fact it meant a lot of the love from the rest of the world after Sept 11 was lost. And not too mention the WMD furphy and its lies and fake photos and more spin than a banana-kicked Sherrin.

The likes of Dubya, Johnny and Blair just wanted Saddam out and access to ‘his’ oil. It wasn’t about stopping terrorism. It wasn’t about WMDs. And it certainly wasn’t about regime change to bring ‘democracy’ to the Middle East. Dubya, Cheney and co saw a pile of cash and used all sorts of excuses to get to it. And Blair and Johnny merely said ‘how can we help’ when asked.

So quite frankly, Johnny was let off lightly just having some shoes thrown at him last night. I for one reckon a full inquiry should have been instituted to look at why we, Australia, went to war on such flimsy and ill-conceived notions. And that inquiry would not paint him or our security agencies in a positive light at all by my reckoning.

So yes Johnny, go ahead and publish your book with your version of events with all the justifications and excuses. But mate, I’m afraid history itself will not look kindly on your involvement, and therefore Australia’s involvement, in the whole sorry mess that was and is the Iraq War and Occupation.

(finally got that off my chest)

EDM.