‘The security of Americans has nothing whatsoever to do
with Iraq. Iraq cannot overthrow the US Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the
separation of powers, and American civil liberties. Iraq cannot illegally spy
on American citizens, declare them to be "suspects" and detain them
forever without warrant or charges. Iraq cannot put American critics of the
Bush regime on "no-fly" lists.  

The real dangers to Americans
reside in the neo-con Bush administration. This delusional warmonger
administration believes it has the power and the right to dictate to Muslim
countries their political and social institutions. This extraordinary arrogance
and hubris breeds opposition where there was none. The world is not going to
obey Bush and a handful of stupid neo-cons.’ 

I had written
him a letter, which I had, for want of better

Knowledge, sent
to where I met him at the wheat board, years ago.

He was chairman
when I knew him, so I sent the letter to him

Just on spec, to
make the point that "Howard doesn't want to know".

‘What possible version of reality could Cheney be
referring to? And they say he wasn't drinking before he blew the old lawyer's
face "clean-off," as Dirty Harry once said. Cheney is a member of
what is, perhaps, the most self-deluded and delusional administration in the
history of human civilization. It is no easy feat that something uttered by any
member of this gaggle of goofballs could ever stand out in comparison to the
rest, but Cheney's insanity is beginning to command attention like a slow-speed
car-chase on a Los Angeles freeway. 

‘George Bush said today that the war was going to take
more fighting and more sacrifice. I want to know who is fighting? I want to
know if the members of the executive and legislative branches that are so
willing to leave our troops in the middle of sectarian violence and a
militarily undefeatable resistance are willing to send their children and other
of their relatives over to the dessert to take the place of the at least 72% of
soldiers who want to come home? Are they willing to go over there themselves to
fight? George Bush didn't finish his commitment to the country when he went
AWOL from the Alabama National Guard, why hasn't he been called back up to go
and fight and die in his own "noble cause?" I have heard of other men
and women his age who have been called back up. This is not our children's
fight. As in all war, the only people who benefit are the war profiteers. 

‘Bush says: "I reserve the right as
commander-in-chief to do what I need to do to defend America." He has
given the CIA carte blanche to continue torturing, also coming up with a
"Pacific solution" argument he might have borrowed from his friend
John Howard. For the purpose of the McCain bill, Guantanamo Bay is excised from
US territory. The same applies, of course, to the vast number of "black
sites" the US has arranged for the specific purpose of torture across the
world. 

It’s been said that there are two
essential qualifications that a US ambassadorial aspirant must possess: they
must be a personal friend of the President & a significant donor to the
President’s political party. Diplomacy doesn’t rate a mention. 

After allowing the position to
languish vacant for more than a year, the US has now announced the appointment
of Robert McCallum as its Ambassador Extraordinary & Plenipotentiary to
Australia. 

‘The British Labour Party apparatchiks have come a long
way in a few years. The upper reaches of the Labour Party lead lives that bear
no relationship to the lives of their supporters. To the leadership, playing
around with extravagant sums of dough is, well, just normal. Why do bus
drivers, office cleaners, schoolteachers, and gardeners fail to understand
this? 

The political classes in Britain
(and no doubt the US) are beneficiaries of double standards and condescension.
They preach to working people about the importance of hard work and of paying
ever-increasing taxes, yet play footsie under the table with those whose job it
is to provide advice on how to squirrel away their wealth and earnings. 

‘Even as he was telling Iran not to produce nuclear
weapons, President Bush was urging Congress to pay for a new nuclear weapon
designed to destroy underground military facilities. 

Although
the nuclear "bunker-buster" is still on the drawing board, Iran can
be expected to charge the United States with atomic hypocrisy during the
current war of words.  

Does anyone even remember why we
went to war with Iraq? 

Wasn't it to remove Saddam and
capture the Weapons of Mass Destruction? 

Well Saddam was removed &
there were no WMDs. So, why are we still there? 

Oh, I forgot, with the Bush
administration, war, death & hundreds of billions dollars spent on
contracts with Halliburton & other war profiteers doesn't have to make sense.

‘Tom Fox understood the kind of devotion and service to
humanity, particularly to the poor and the oppressed, that wearing the garments
of Christianity required. Bush, a man born of wealth and privilege has no
conception about what it means to labor, to sacrifice and to serve others. He
is all about serving those of his kind—the enemies of peace, the violent
oppressors of the poor and the just. Bush, like his predecessors, is taking
from the poor and giving to the rich; he is fomenting violence and death all
over the world - his actions, his life, cannot be reconciled in any way with
the teachings of Jesus Christ. Bush is an apostle of class elitism, of wealth
and empire, not of god. 

‘Introducing the Human Rights
report, Secretary Rice said, "How a country treats its own people is a
strong indication of how it will behave toward its neighbors. The growing
demand for democratic governance reflects a recognition that the best guarantor
of human rights is a thriving democracy," with rights such as accountable
government and a free press. 

The report, released in
Washington March 8, reviewed human rights achievements and setbacks in some 190
countries and regions around the world. It called the human rights records of
key Arab allies poor or problematic, citing flawed elections and torture of
prisoners in Egypt, beatings, arbitrary arrest and lack of religious freedom in
Saudi Arabia, and floggings as punishment for adultery or drug abuse in the
United Arab Emirates. Iraq's performance was "handicapped" by
insurgency and terrorism that affected every aspect of life, the State
Department said. 

‘March 20 is the third anniversary of the Bush regime's
invasion of Iraq. US military casualties to date are approximately 20,000
killed, wounded, maimed, and disabled. Iraqi civilian casualties number in the
tens of thousands. Iraq's infrastructure is in ruins. Tens of thousands of
homes have been destroyed. Fallujah, a city of 300,000 people had 36,000 of its
50,000 homes destroyed by the US military. Half of the city's former population
are displaced persons living in tents. 

Thousands of Iraqis have been
detained in prisons and hundreds have been brutally tortured. America's
reputation in the Muslim world is ruined. 

First Francis Fukuyama, then Tony
Blair & now, here it is: a soul searching speech from the rodent on Iraq –
as close to a mea culpa as we’re ever likely to get. Maybe he has been taking
too many red ones? 

John Howard's Address To
The Deakin Society