from Mike Carlton in today’s SMH …..

‘The blatant dishonesty came towards the end, with a brief nod at the war on terrorism. "It remains," intoned Howard, "an inconvenient truth that if countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia simply abandon the people of Iraq this would be an enormous victory for the forces of terror and extremism around the world."

No mention of the deceit and incompetence that got us into Iraq in the first place.

Nothing on those non-existent weapons of mass destruction. Not a word to concede that the conflict has become a fiasco which, far from realising the neo-conservative fantasy of democracy and freedom in Iraq, has merely replaced the horrors of Saddam Hussein with the horrors of sectarian civil war and heightened the risk of terrorist atrocities elsewhere. And certainly no acknowledgement of the most inconvenient truth of all: that Australia's outstanding contribution to the war has been $300 million swindled from the United Nations by the wheat exporter AWB and delivered in kickbacks to the bank accounts of Saddam's henchmen. All on Howard's watch.

At the Sleaze Ball, they get to take their clothes off. At the Quadrant ball, the emperor had no clothes to begin with.’

PM Selective About Which Bits He Let Hang Out

and, from Anne Summers …..

‘"Of the causes that Quadrant has taken up that are close to my heart, none is more important than the role it has played as counterforce to the black armband view of Australian history," the Prime Minister said.

What a strange and sad statement. No issue is closer to the heart of our Prime Minister? We could have hoped that perhaps when it comes to indigenous Australia he might judge chronic illness, low life expectancy, drug and alcohol problems and, above all, violence against women and kids in outback communities as more important than rants about a so-called black armband approach to our history. Others might yearn for a Prime Minister who had "close to his heart" critical national problems such as poverty, unemployment, declining education levels, global warming, the increasing Australian diaspora, the water crisis or even, given the theme of the speech, protection of democratic liberties in an age of terror.

But this speech had no such ambitions. Its focus was narrow, its spirit was mean. It boasted abut the virtually complete vanquishing of the left here and abroad but it showed no interest in setting out a new agenda or in helping us think through the big challenges that confront us today.

In many ways, the speech could be seen as the "Mission Accomplished" of the Culture Wars. I wasn't there but while press photos show that John Howard was wearing civvies, not a flying suit, his words suggest he was nevertheless in combat mode as he proclaimed victory on the battlefield of ideas in recent Australian history.

As he surveyed the room he no doubt felt a degree of satisfaction at the size of his ideological army.’

PM Glosses Over Double Standard