If Tony Blair Is A War Criminal, Then So Is John Howard

By Darryl Mason

I've been saying it here for years, but has any Australian journalist ever asked John Howard, "While you were in Washington DC, between Sept 11 and Sept 15, did you make a commitment to President George W. Bush that Australian troops would fight the War On Iraq?"

Leaked docs reveal then British PM Tony Blair committed troops to the War On Iraq as early as February 2002.

Did President Bush use Howard's Sept 2001 commitment to fighting the War On Iraq to push Tony Blair to sign on, too?

The documents - transcripts of interviews from an internal defence ministry review of the conflict - disclose that some planning for the Iraq war had begun in February 2002. Major General Graeme Lamb, then head of Britain's special forces, was quoted as saying he had been "working the war up since early 2002", according to the newspaper.

In July 2002, Blair told lawmakers at a House of Commons committee session there were no preparations to invade Iraq.

Critics of the war have long insisted Blair offered President George W Bush an assurance as early as mid-2002 - before British MPs voted in 2003 to approve UK involvement - that Britain would join the war.

The leaked documents are likely to be supplied to a public inquiry established by Prime Minister Gordon Brown to scrutinise prewar intelligence and postwar planning, and which will hold its first evidence sessions later this week.

Brown appointed ex-civil servant John Chilcot to lead the panel, which will call Blair and the current and former heads of Britain's MI6 intelligence agency - John Sawers and John Scarlett - to give testimony in person.

When will John Howard finally face the kind of interrogation Tony Blair is about to undergo?

This question is being asked in the UK media : "Is Tony Blair A War Criminal?"

Now Australian troops have been withdrawn from Iraq, it's time to ask the same question of John Howard.


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PM's Plane, Billowing Smoke, Forced Down In Iraq

14 Minutes Of Terror As Cabin Of Aircraft Filled With Choking Fumes

The Australian prime minister, John Howard, had the closest call of his career last night when his C-130 RAAF plane began billowing smoke thousands of feet above Iraq.

The Hercules aircraft was forced to descend quickly, and gas masks were worn by all on board, as heavy smoke poured from the aircraft and filled the cabin :

Some on board thought the smoke smelled of burning oil, while other likened it to burning insulation material.

The military transport aircraft, carrying the PM, his personal staff and security, journalists, senior military leaders and dozens of others, landed heavily at Tallil Airport, 300 kilometres from Baghdad, after 14 minutes of flight in conditions close to an Airforce 'mayday' status.

The Prime Minister and all on board were evacuated within moments of the Hercules coming to a stop, while SAS troops surrounded the plane to fend off potential attacks.

During the long minutes on the ground at the airport, as his escape flight on a Blackhawk helicopter was organised, there were very real fears that insurgents might launch attacks on the prime minister, as his aircraft would have been seen coming down in a state of emergency.

Security were reported to have been fearful insurgents were using mobile phones to co-ordinate an attack on John Howard, while he was exposed in the middle of an aistrip, before being escorted onto the Blackhawk.

The prime minister made this unnanounced visit to Iraq, after visiting Afghanistan only hours before.

In meetings with the leaders of Iraq and Afghanistan, Howard confirmed that Australia would continue its troop presence in their region for the immediate future.

John Howard is expected to announce a "surge" of fresh SAS troops into Afghanistan in the coming week.

In a press conference with Iraqi prime minister Maliki, Howard again dropped expectations for what he regarded as the level of "success" in Iraq that would warrant a pullout of Australian troops.

"...Australia will continue its presence in Iraq to assist in bringing about a situation where the Iraqi people are reasonably able to provide for their own future and for their own security..."

Howard also vowed that Australia would stay in Iraq until "the terrorists are defeated."

More To Come.....

Prime Minister Advises Al Qaeda In Iraq On Strategy To Defeat America And The West

Howard : Democrat Win In 2008 Presidential Elections Will Spell Victory For Al Qaeda

Howard's Attack Aimed At All US Democrats

By Darryl Mason

In a bizarre, venom-splashed attack on US presidential candidate Senator Barak Obama yesterday morning, the Australian prime minister, John Howard, first imagined what he would do as leader of Al Qaeda, and then offered the following advice to the terrorist group that has killed thousands of American citizens and troops in the past six years :

"I would put a circle around March 2008, and pray, as many times as possible, for a victory not only for Obama, but also for the Democrats."

Howard's astounding comments (echoing comments made against Democrat presidential candidate John Kerry by US President George W. Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney in the months leading up to the 2004 presidential elections) came only hours after Senator Barak Obama announced he would pull US combat forces out of Iraq if he became president of the United States.

Senator Obama fired back, stating that John Howard should send 20,000 Australian troops to Iraq to help win the war, if he believed his own words and wanted to avoid a hypocritical stand :

"I think it's flattering that one of George Bush's allies on the other side of the world started attacking me the day after I announced [my candidacy]," Senator Obama said.

"I would also note that we have close to 140,000 troops in Iraq and my understanding is Mr Howard has deployed 1,400.

"So if he is...to fight the good fight in Iraq, I would suggest that he calls up another 20,000 Australians and sends them to Iraq, otherwise it's just a bunch of empty rhetoric."

In Parliament this afternoon, the prime minister attempted to claim that his comments were only aimed at Senator Obama, though clearly he was talking about all Democrats who foresaw a US troop pullout in their portfolio should they win the 2008 presidential election, including Hilary Clinton.

Under persistent questioning by Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd, the prime minister launched into near incomprehensible ranting about how his Obama comments were all about "Australia's interests". He claimed that a US defeat in Iraq would spell big trouble for Australia and the region, appearing to go against his former claims that local terrorist threats were unrelated to the Iraq War.

Many Australians are wondering today whether prime minister, John Howard, has "lost it." "It" being his previously razor-sharp political instincts and his ability to rarely put a foot wrong when it came to international politics.

Howard's attack on Obama are widely viewed in Australia as yet another major error by Howard, who claimed last week that "the jury is still out" when it came to the link between climate change and greenhouse gas emissions. He later corrected himself in Parliament, though he clearly did not want to do so. Long derided as a global warming denier, Howard now says he is a climate change "realist".

Howard's damaging errors of the past seven days are causing huge displeasure in the coalition government (though few have stepped forward to publicly criticise the prime minister, so far), placing his position as leader of the coalition under threat.

Howard has long maintained that he would remain leader of his party as long as the party wanted him to remain leader. If the coming federal election was delayed until 2008, Howard may find himself learning the harsh reality of those claims.


Story continues below...

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John Howard's recent remarkable failure to maintain his rarely dented visage as a political behemoth come as fresh polls reveal both Howard and the government he leads are losing favour and popularity amongst the Australian electorate, at near record rates of decline.

Howard is clearly rattled, by the failure of the War On Iraq, and his fading popularity. More Australians now prefer Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd as prime minister than John Howard by a margin of some 16%.

The prime minister was clearly hoping to give his American allies, President Bush and the White House administration, an opportunity to infer, as Fox News has already done, that Senator Barak Obama has some kind of sympathy with Islamist terrorism because his father was a Muslim. Obama has repeatedly stated that he supports the War On Terror and that he is a Christian.

In all, Howard's comments are damaging to the Australian-US alliance, as this alliance is about decidedly more than simple allegiance to President Bush.

How John Howard expects to have an open and honest relationship with the Democrats should they win the 2008 presidential elections, after openly stating such a victory would be praised by Al Qaeda, is anyone's guess.


MORE UPDATES TO FOLLOW.....

Demands Made In Parliament That Howard Retract Obama Comments And Apologise To All US Democrats

Howard Steps Up Attack On Obama

US Democrats Say Howard's Comments "Bizarre"

Howard Vs Obama Over Iraq Dominates US News

Obama To Howard : Send 20,000 Troops To Iraq Or Shut Up