eltanin

The Anglo Coalition now reckons it doesn't matter that its stated
reason for war was false, and that the factual basis for the stated
reason was, to put it generously, severely beaten up. Perle suggested
this week that the stated reason was adopted so the Coalition could
argue that invading Iraq was legal. Lie to be legal!

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/10/14/1065917402796.html


Richard Perle, a leading Bush propagandist for invading Iraq to rid the
world of his Weapons of Mass Destruction, now says it doesn't matter if
there were none. Like most big political players in Bush's war, he's
connected to a US defence company whose profits depend on war, but
unlike most he was forced to resign this year from the Pentagon's
advisory Defense Policy Board after the New Yorker exposed a conflict
between his public and business interests.

The Anglo Coalition now reckons it doesn't matter that its stated
reason for war was false, and that the factual basis for the stated
reason was, to put it generously, severely beaten up. Perle suggested
this week that the stated reason was adopted so the Coalition could
argue that invading Iraq was legal. Lie to be legal!

"The war was appropriate, even if no weapons are found, and even if
there were no weapons - because we liberated 23 million people and
opened the door to a tremendously important change in the region. The
policy of containment had failed. Saddam was a brutal dictator who used
weapons of mass destruction [in the past], and leaving him in place
would have been dangerous."

So where does that leave the people of Australia - the victims of the
scam?

Australia's democracy looks pretty darn hopeless compared to the
British and US democracies in getting the truth about the real reasons
we invaded Iraq and in achieving accountability from the perpetrators
of the big lies.

John Howard's got help, of course. Start with a paralysed opposition
and abjectly compliant ministers and backbenchers who collectively
turned their backs on the people who elected them. Add his media
propagandists - Rupert Murdoch and a bevy of talkback radio boosters -
and a press gallery more intent on scoring the game than getting the
truth. Toss in a weak Parliamentary committee system and Howard's
willingness to ignore or subvert its processes and presto, he's getting
away with it scot free.

What are disappointed Australians supposed to do? Give up? Retreat to
the garden or the home renovations? Howard's won everything if they do.
He wants a detached electorate which has given up on honesty in
politics, because then he's a shoe-in next election on the
devil-you-know principle.

I've been brooding on an email from K.E. last week:

This government frightens and outrages me. I smell Nazism every day in
the news and I want to know where to go to meet like-minded people to
talk, to protest, and if necessary in the long run, to revolt. I don't
know where to find people like this. Most of my friends seem passive
and only minimally concerned. Do you know of any action groups or how
one can become politically active?

So when I got an email from the North Shore Peace Group network
offering a seat at a war forum starring Tony Abbott I decided to find
out exactly how they'd managed to get a senior minister to front voters
on Truth and Democracy: Casualties of War?, to my knowledge a first!
He'll join Sydney Labor left MP Tanya Plibersek, Peter Macdonald - the
independent who gave Abbott a run for his money at the 2001 election -
and local human shield Donna Mulhearn at North Sydney's council
chambers on Monday to front 200 local residents with tough questions to
which they expect answers.

David and Sue Roffey, of the wealthy Sydney North Shore suburb of
Mosman, decided to give direct democracy a go in January. Sue was
concerned that no-one in Mosman seemed to have known about last
November's march against the war, "so I put a small ad. in the Mosman
Daily saying 'I oppose the war, anyone else?'" Six people met round the
Roffey dinner table soon after, and the Mosman peace group was born.

The power of the Mosman group, like other North Shore peace groups, is
that it's genuinely cross political. Most active members don't belong
to any party and they vote Green, Labor, Democrats and Liberal. The
group's most prominent political supporter is John Valder, a former
head of the NSW Liberal Party and Howard backer, who's attended all the
group's functions and will ask a question at the forum. The Mosman
peace group has found common ground, and local activist groups who can
boast that have enormous power to get a yes from their local MP.

To let Mosman know they'd arrived, group members attended local markets
with placards and purple ribbons which sold like hotcakes. The $600
they raised bought T-Shirts. 'North Shore against the war" and "Think
again, John", were the polite, very North shore slogans. Sue, a
psychologist, said the groups modus operandi was "respect for other
people's points of view".

"We wanted to stand up and be counted - if individuals don't do it then
groups don't do it and people's don't do it," she said. A Mosman
student created their website, now a bulletin board for peace groups
across the North Shore. Its motto is a quote from Martin Luther King:
"Our lives begin to end when we become silent about things that
matter."

The group's goal was to see 100 Mosman residents at the February March.
They knew they'd succeeded when the ferry was packed to the rafters on
the day.

As the tanks neared Baghdad in April, David and Sue booked an
appointment with their federal MP, Tony Abbott. To his credit, Abbott
didn't insult his constituents with form replies. They had a long
conversation in which Abbott revealed that he'd been mugged by Cabinet
for daring to say in Parliament that invading Iraq could increase the
risk of terrorism. Think about that for a minute. Still trust John
Howard with our national security? We found out much later that the
British Joint Intelligence Committee, the premier intelligence adviser
to Tony Blair, thought exactly the same thing. Howard claims our
intelligence body, the ONA, didn't bother to send him the JIC report
and instead threw it "into the mix", a mix he has not yet disclosed.

David and Sue asked Abbott if he'd be on a panel to debate the issues
when the war was over. He agreed.

The Roffeys, along with many other Australians, were deeply frustrated
with John Howard's pretence that he hadn't promised George Bush
Australia was all the way with the USA if it invaded Iraq even without
UN sanction, and that Howard used that pretence to refuse to discuss
issues arising out of possible UN refusal to endorse the war. Howard
had stymied Australia's premier journalists with that ploy, and thus
the Australian people's desire for debate on an issue of grave concern
to us all. David - a retired telecommunications consultant now studying
political economy - and many others emailed their questions to the PM.
His method of avoiding answers is grotesque in its contempt. Howard's
people replied to all emails with questions on the war by saying he'd
referred them to the foreign minister Alexander Downer. Downer didn't
reply. Not ever.

Now Tony Abbott will. All the journos, columnists, Labor 'strategists'
and newspaper editors who think Australians don't care about the war
any more might be interested to learn that all 200 tickets for the war
forum were taken before David and Sue got around to placing ads in the
Mosman Daily. People are interested, alright, if they think there's a
chance they'll get answers.

The Mosman Group isn't interested in catching out the pollie or in
stunts or oneupmanship. They've modelled the forum on a BBC radio show
which brings together pollies, experts, and activists for a weekly
discussion on big issues with interested voters.

Everyone on the Mosman group mailing list was asked to submit
questions. The organising committee distilled six themes, composed six
questions and assigned someone to ask them. The panelists know them in
advance, and they are published on the website. Pollies who want to
avoid question can be picked up by subsequent speakers or by the
questioner, who has a right of reply. The questions are:

1. Since it is now clear that WMD was only a pretext for the US to
invade and occupy Iraq, what safeguards need to be in place to ensure
that in future such a momentous decision is not left to one person or a
small group? How can there be more accountability for such actions?

2. A US Army manual defines terrorism as: "The calculated use of
violence or the threat of violence to attain goals that are political,
religious, or ideological in nature. This is done through intimidation,
coercion, or instilling fear." Do you agree? How broadly can this
definition be applied?

3. Many Australians feel profoundly dis-empowered and disillusioned by
the process that led to Australia's involvement in the attack on Iraq.
What prospects are there for the restoration of people's faith in
democracy?

4. How have the past policies of developed western countries
(particularly the US and UK) towards the Middle East played a role in
fostering the problems we now face, such as the terrorism of Islamic
groups such as al-Qaeda?

5. Have Australia's long term interests been served by our involvement
in the war against Iraq? What is our future as a nation if we continue
our current allegiance to the US agenda at the expense of broader
international relationships?

6. How has Australia been served by its media and how they have covered
these issues?

What's the point?

Sue: "I believe our culture is determined by discourse. What people
talk about and the way they talk about it determines their actions. We
need to maintain an alternative way of talking about the war at a time
when a uniform, government-led discourse is dominating the media."

After the first phase of the Iraq war, when Saddam's statue fell, the
Mosman group decided not to oppose the occupation because it was
pointless to do so. "We're solutions focused," David said, so they now
focus on what the government's behaviour means for democracy in
Australia and the relevance of truth in our political discourse. They
hope their next forum will be on the media's role in the mess.

But David and Sue have a bigger goal - to inspire voters in other seats
to ask their MPs to front the people who voted them in and answer their
questions. If our leaders play clever avoidance games with media
questioners and bestow most of their media time on their media
cheerleaders, then what's a voter to do but seek accountability direct?

David maintains the website and is happy to help anyone who'd like to
start their own group. His email is mail@sydneypeace.com

***

Details of the Don't Be Bush Whacked! hoedown at Prince Alfred Park on
Sunday afternoon are at NSWpeace

For Bush events in other states see: Melbourne, Adelaide, ACT, Perth,
Launceston, Hobart

There's a list of national contacts at vicpeace

**

Sue Roffey's field in psychology is "emotional literacy" and "emotional
intelligence". This is her outline of an emotionally literate
community:

* shows that it values the diversity of its members

* gives people a chance to be heard

* provides opportunities for participation

* encourages and provides for the establishment of support networks

* uses conflict resolution techniques to manage differences

* makes consequences for wrong doing fair and clear

* makes decisions that are in the community interest rather than in the
interest of one (powerful) sector

* provides equal opportunities in reality as well as on paper

* expects all individuals to be aware of community responsibility

An emotionally literate society:

* has transparent government

* has laws based on values of humanity and equality

* has politicians who are solution focused, not blame focused

* is pro-active in early intervention for issues that may have a
negative and often expensive outcome

* makes efforts to understand and address the reasons why people behave
the way they do

* treats people with respect and humanity even while disapproving of
behaviour

* acknowledges the importance of feelings and emotional literacy -
gives this a high profile and provides education at every level

* has a media which is responsible, provides balance and is aware of
its impact on feelings and public discourse

kenneth-

But there were WMD found recently.
Dozens of rockets without warheads.
Weapons of Minimum Destruction.

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