Perth Indy Guide
Editorial Policy
You Publish!
Search Us
Calendar
Library
Chat
Email Lists:
Perth-IMC General
Editorial Mob
RadioFreePerth
Techgeeks
RadioFreePerth:
Oceania
Oceania Indymedia
newswreal
email list
video list
tech list
chat
wiki
about indymedia
indymedia
www.indymedia.org
Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video
Africa
ambazonia
canarias
estrecho / madiaq
kenya
nigeria
south africa
Canada
hamilton
london, ontario
maritimes
montreal
ontario
ottawa
quebec
thunder bay
vancouver
victoria
windsor
winnipeg
East Asia
burma
jakarta
japan
korea
manila
qc
Europe
abruzzo
alacant
andorra
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
bristol
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
euskal herria
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
imc-london
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
nice
norway
oost-vlaanderen
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
saint-petersburg
scotland
sverige
switzerland
thessaloniki
torun
toscana
toulouse
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia
Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela
venezuela
Oceania
adelaide
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
oceania
perth
qc
sydney
South Asia
india
mumbai
United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
austin
baltimore
big muddy
binghamton
boston
buffalo
charlottesville
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
tennessee
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester
West Asia
armenia
beirut
israel
palestine
Topics
biotech
Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech
volunteer
|
email the perth indmedia mob...
Howard admits to killing Iraqis for oil security |
| by Elliot K - Perth Indymedia |
2007-07-05 1:34 PM +0800 |
July 5, 2007: Despite the denials of 2003, the Howard Government has now admitted that oil security is indeed a major factor in Australia's perpetual military involvement in Iraq. Defence Minister Brendan Nelson says oil was a factor in Australia's contribution to the extremely unpopular war. He said "energy security" in the Middle East would be crucial to the nation's future. Dr Nelson said defence was about protecting the economy.
Dr Nelson also said it was important to support the "prestige" of the US and UK... |
"The entire (Middle East) region is an important supplier of energy, oil in particular, to the rest of the world. Australians and all of us need to think well what would happen if there were a premature withdrawal from Iraq?" said Dr Nelson.
In a major speech outlining the Government's defence priorities, Mr Howard said Australian troops need to stay in Iraq to ensure a continued supply of oil, as well as to assist the United States.
In 2003, as Australia followed the US invasion into Iraq, Mr Howard told Australians it was because Iraq had "weapons of mass destruction".
Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd said the conflict had killed 600,000 Iraqis while pushing their country into civil war, jeopardising global oil supplies and strengthening Iran's threat to Iraq. Mr Rudd said: "When Mr Howard was asked back in 2003 whether this war had anything to do with oil, Mr Howard said in no way did it have anything to do with oil. This Government simply makes it up as it goes along on Iraq."
As a "magnet, inspiration and training ground for international jihadists", the Iraq war has boosted Australia up the ranks of countries targeted by terrorism, Mr Rudd said. It had been a mistake to send troops into Iraq, he said.
"Australia's involvement in the Iraq war continues to make Australia a greater terrorism target than we'd otherwise be. The uncomfortable fact for Australia is that we have now become a greater terrorist target as a consequence of our military involvement in Iraq, a fact acknowledged by many experts in the field," said Mr Rudd.
Greens Leader Bob Brown said the Prime Minister's belated admission that the invasion of Iraq is linked to 'the major stake of energy dependency' underlines his dishonesty in 2003. "Saddam Hussein's oil, not weapons of mass destruction, was in the Bush-Blair-Howard mindset in this monumental mistake which has cost a
reported 67,000 civilian lives (the Lancet estimates 655,000 deaths)," Senator Brown said.
"It has boosted global terrorism and undermined Australia's homeland security. Mr Howard has put oil corporations' interests ahead of Australians domestic security," Senator Brown said.
Democrats leader Senator Lyn Allison said the government had been denying the link between oil and the war for years. "After years of denials the Howard government has finally conceded that oil and powerful mates were behind sending Australian troops to a bloody war in Iraq," she said. "This has been a despicable fraud. Countless lives have been lost and a society torn apart based on lies. And yet the prime minister's repeated refrain is 'trust me'. How can we believe anything this man says about anything?"
"The reality is money and oil and powerful mates were always key reasons for going into Iraq despite ruses about weapons of mass destruction. Now he says the international terror threat is one reason for staying the course but that terror threat would not have been so great had it not been for catastrophic policy decisions like the ones the Howard Government has made," said Senator Allison.
Meanwhile a new report suggests that Australia is not directly threatened by terror. A national security review has found Australia faces no direct conventional threat but ought to be ready anyway for unforeseen events. The review, Australia’s National Security: A Defence Update 2007, was released today by prime minister John Howard at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s Global Forces 2007 conference.
An increase of 47 percent in the Defence budget since the Howard government came to power has provided the Australian Defence Forces with a greatly enhanced military capability. Howard, who has committed Australia's military to a $43bn build-up, said Canberra had buried the "self-defeating" idea that Australia's military should be based on home defence.
Australia has about 1,500 troops in and around Iraq.
SOURCES: |
|
|
The Age
The Australian
The Australian
ABC Radio
Aljazeera
Courier Mail
Independent Broadcast Network
ABC News
scale pictures
|
Link here
Add multimedia to story
Add links to story
|
Interesting... |
| by Jerome |
2007-07-05 7:30 PM +0800 |
That leaves the truth firmly in the laps of the average person. We can't avoid the truth now. Do we carry on as we are going or do we perpetuate the war on Iraq? We are all a party to it.
Link here
|
Iraq was about oil? |
| by Mar Bucknell |
2007-07-06 1:17 AM +0800 |
Well blow me down with a feather of shock and awe. Who could possibly have thunk it?
Oh, that's right. WE DID.
I remember turning up at Forrest Pace for the huge demo in 2003 and I bumped in to an old friend with a placard that said 'Read between the (pipe)lines'. Actually, the best thing about that demo was the huge number of people who had brought home-made signs instead of Identi-Trot placards.
Link here
|
:P |
| by Jerome |
2007-07-07 9:22 AM +0800 |
:) I woke up with this imagery...
The economy is like a gargantuan quiveling monster lying imobile over the whole land. It has a teet, for every working age person, that dispenses addictive sweets. But each teet comes with a whip that extends behind and out of eyesight of the person suckling.
But each teet is not quite as it appears; it has a valve that opens once it has dispensed sufficient sweets to keep the person suckling for more. When it opens, the flow reverses and the monster sucks the life force of the devotee. Each person is consciously aware of the whip but continues because it's worth the punishment for the sweet return but few are aware of the sinister trade of energy.
To ensure our devotion, the monster also encourages us to have children.
All the while, there are a select few who think they are lucky enough to be riding this bouncy castle of supposed easy fortune.
Link here
|
Identi-Trot placards |
| by Ned |
2007-07-07 2:27 PM +0800 |
People can choose to pick up one if they like.
Surprised that the choice of sign was the best thing about a demo
Link here
|
Ned |
| by Mar Bucknell |
2007-07-09 3:09 AM +0800 |
Don't you think it's important that people turn up with the sign that expresses their own personal message, that they have physically made themselves?
There were literally hundreds of them. That's not a choice of a sign. That's an important message to the official peace movement and the official left that people weren't listening to them.
Link here
|
Mar |
| by Ned |
2007-07-09 6:59 PM +0800 |
"Don't you think it's important that people turn up with the sign that expresses their own personal message, that they have physically made themselves?"
No.
Link here
|
Well. |
| by shayne |
2007-07-13 6:02 PM +0800 |
Everyone has there 'best things'. I always enjoy a great samba march most at the rallys I do attend.
But it is pretty good when people feel safe to tell the old left order to rack off, because they are capable of thinking for them selves.
Think swarms of bees, not a bug old ugly wasp. The big old ugly wasp can make a pretty big hurt on you if it wants, whilst the bees are happy hanging about the rosegarden. But shake that bees nest, and your fucked.
Of course bees have a hivemind, so , uh, my analogy isnt verry good :(
Maybe a flock of crazed budgies with rabies
Or a .........
I suck at analogys.
Link here
|
Spinning Downer |
| by Jed Clampett |
2007-07-16 9:31 PM +0800 |
One week later Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer was on the polititcal talkies saying Alkieda Alkieda ALKIEDA! And nothing about oil. Nothing about oil at all.
Gosh darn it.
When it was put to him that Alkieda didn't operate in Iraq before the US invasion he said something like "well we don't really know that, but we have to concentrate on the problems in 2007 and the future, not what happened in the 2003 and in the past."
Yes he does spin I tells ya.
A criminal by all reckoning.
Link here
|
|
ALLOWED:99837
|
|
