Democracy Lite

Why do they hate us? Sandy Shanks, on aljazeera.net.

From the SMH
GUS COMMENTS BETWEEN THE LINES
Young need to remember US help: Costello
August 22, 2005 - 12:24PM
HOW CAN WE FORGET THE WAY THEY'VE TAUGHT US TO WEAR A CAP BACKWARDS

Young people need to be reminded of the help the United States gave Australia during World War II, Treasurer Peter Costello has said.
YOUNG PEOPLE NEED TO ALSO KNOW THAT NOT ALL WHAT THE AMERICANS ARE DOING IS ROSY AND CLEAN AND HELPFUL

In a departure from his usual economic pronouncements, Mr Costello strayed into the foreign policy arena at the weekend, blaming some teachers for growing anti-American sentiment in Australia.
AMERICA HAS DONE GREAT THINGS BUT CRITICISM (OR ARGUMENTS ABOUT) OF ITS PRESENT POLICIES IS HEALTHY FOR THE FUTURE OF DEMOCRACY

He believes the views of teachers are a result of their training in the left-wing environment at universities in the 1960s and 1970s, which is now filtering down to their students.
YEAH... LIKE LAWYERS, MANAGERS AND POLITICIANS TAUGHT IN THE SAME ERA BEING COMMUNISTS TOO...

Mr Costello raised the issue in the context of the recent Victory in the Pacific celebrations, marking the 60th anniversary of the end of WWII.
FOR ANYONE WHO AS SEEN WAR FROM THE WRONG END (AND MANY WHO HAVE SEEN WAR FROM THE VICTORIOUS END, WAR IS UGLY. AUSTRALIA IS AT WAR AT THE PRESENT EVEN IF WE DO NOT SEE RATION BOOKS AT THE BUTCHER. WAR IS BEING WAGED IN IRAQ

He warned in generations to come it may be forgotten what the United States had done to help secure the allies victory in the Pacific.
THANK YOU FOR THAT.

"The generation that is going through school today needs to be reminded of these things," he told the John Laws radio program.
THE YOUNG GENERATION IS REMINDED OF THIS BUT IT HAS ALSO TO BE REMINDED OF FOIBLES AND THE HURT WARS DO CREATE FOR SOMEONE, OFTEN INNOCENT PEOPLE, EVEN IF WE FEEL VERY COMFORTABLE IN OUR OWN SPACE.

"With the assistance of the Americans, Japan was defeated, (it) wouldn't have happened without the Americans and Australia wouldn't have been secured.
ONE CAN ARGUE EFFECTIVELY AGAINST THIS SUPPOSITION, BUT THERE IS NO POINT

"I think there are many younger people in Australia today that don't know that."
DID COSTELLO KNOW ABOUT THE TRUE NATURE OF THE BOER WAR, IN HIS YOUTH?

Labor accused Mr Costello of sparking the debate to improve his chances at the Liberal leadership.
SURE...

From Don't Prettify Our History by Paul Krugman.

But we aren't doing the country a favor when we present recent history in a way that makes our system look better than it is. Sometimes the public needs to hear unpleasant truths, even if those truths make them feel worse about their country.
Not to be coy: election 2000 may be receding into the past, but the Iraq war isn't. As the truth about the origins of that war comes out, there may be a temptation, once again, to prettify the story. The American people deserve better.

And so do we, in regard to our own history, and America's.

Perhaps that is what Peter Costello was driving at - more truth! Perhaps not.

In any case, what solution would he (or Pastor Brian of Hillsong Inc.) recommend for this: Half of Asia's children live in poverty: report? Migrate to Oz, and enjoy a high standard of living?

Top judge: US and UK acted as 'vigilantes' in Iraq invasion
Former senior law lord condemns 'serious violation of international law'

    * Richard Norton-Taylor
    * guardian.co.uk, Tuesday November 18 2008 00.01 GMT
    * The Guardian, Tuesday November 18 2008

One of Britain's most authoritative judicial figures last night delivered a blistering attack on the invasion of Iraq, describing it as a serious violation of international law, and accusing Britain and the US of acting like a "world vigilante".

Lord Bingham, in his first major speech since retiring as the senior law lord, rejected the then attorney general's defence of the 2003 invasion as fundamentally flawed.

Contradicting head-on Lord Goldsmith's advice that the invasion was lawful, Bingham stated: "It was not plain that Iraq had failed to comply in a manner justifying resort to force and there were no strong factual grounds or hard evidence to show that it had." Adding his weight to the body of international legal opinion opposed to the invasion, Bingham said that to argue, as the British government had done, that Britain and the US could unilaterally decide that Iraq had broken UN resolutions "passes belief".

Governments were bound by international law as much as by their domestic laws, he said. "The current ministerial code," he added "binding on British ministers, requires them as an overarching duty to 'comply with the law, including international law and treaty obligations'."

The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats continue to press for an independent inquiry into the circumstances around the invasion. The government says an inquiry would be harmful while British troops are in Iraq. Ministers say most of the remaining 4,000 will leave by mid-2009.

Addressing the British Institute of International and Comparative Law last night, Bingham said: "If I am right that the invasion of Iraq by the US, the UK, and some other states was unauthorised by the security council there was, of course, a serious violation of international law and the rule of law.

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Gus: pity the comment at the top of this line of blog got mushed in transition while moving web furniture. I still can't source the original full text where I did exposed how the war was sold like soap powder to an unsuspecting public... Some of us argued not to buy the WMD furphy, from way before the war.

Some people still think that Bush really thought Saddam had WMDs, but that would be too kindly to a crooked duck. Blair, Howard and Bush HAD TO KNOW there were no WMDs to launch THEIR military offensive against Saddam. Even before that it was obvious to the serious independent analysts that Bush, Blair and Howard were manufacturing "evidence", most too idiotic to be real. Colin Powell delivery at the United Nations was too pitiful for laughs...

But Blair, Bush and Howard had a powerful weapon in their deceit: The main stream media (mostly right wing) with Mr Murdoch's media empire at the centre of it all. Foxed! Thus the porkies flew high with the blessing of a press that bent over to please — all too willing to see biffo. Not many journalists did a serious study of the problem and even those who thought they got exclusives from Iraqi informants/defectors did not realise till later they were manipulated by the CIA or some of its shopfronts. Those scribes who really worked to find the truth did not get published...

The good lord judge is right: Blair, Bush and Howard should consider themselves lucky they have not been dragged to an international court for being war criminals. All their trickery could be exposed thus, but they've covered their tracks well, in conspiracy. May history rot the memory of their motivations and actions...