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Australia Suckered into War Crimes Trap
Prime Minister disqualifies himself from Australian Parliament
Copyright Joe Vialls, 1 February 2003, All Rights Reserved
George W. Bush and Tony Blair have done some pretty crazy things in their time. Like Roman Senators of old, they have ruthlessly invaded foreign sovereign nations, injured and murdered foreign nationals by the tens of thousands, and kidnapped a few hundred of the unfortunate wretches to be brought home as “spoils of war”, for obscene physical & psychological experimentation and torture.
It has all been great fun for these twisted and perverted “democratic leaders” of the west, but George and Tony now need a way of avoiding, or at least diluting, any future punishment for their behavior. Ideally, they need gullible leaders elsewhere in the world to “share the blame” for their murderous and illegal activities.
Historically, it is a fact that the heroes of yesterday frequently become the war criminals of tomorrow; a matter of quiet but increasing concern in Washington and London as the western “democracies” slowly but surely sink towards complete economic chaos, and thus significantly increased international vulnerability.
American and British political eyes glance increasingly nervously across the North Sea towards the Hague, where former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic is the undisputed star of the United Nations “International Criminal Tribunal”.
Milosevic merely stands accused of daring to defend his own sovereign nation and people with his own soldiers, while under illegal and unrelenting aerial assault by America and Britain. In terms of genuine war crimes, on a scale of one to ten Slobodan scores about 1, compared to 9+ for George and Tony, but neither of the latter wishes to take Slobodan’s place in the dock at The Hague.
George and Tony’s preferred scapegoat for many of their international crimes is John Winston Howard, a short bald man with glasses who is currently Prime Minister of Australia, a large desert island located south of Singapore. Most of you will not have heard of John Howard before, but try not to worry, you haven’t missed much.
John spends much of his working day calling the answering machine at The White House to ask for photo opportunities with George W. Bush: a bizarre obsession that tells us a great deal about John’s [and thus Australia’s] absolute vulnerability to international war criminals and con men like George and Tony.
Back during the heady Gulf War days in 1990, and with formal UN backing, Australia committed a small naval force to the Persian Gulf, comprised of two frigates and a handful of men. No matter what you might think of the United Nations, the essential fact here is that Australia’s back was and still is covered on this matter by international law. It is what has happened since that point in time, that has shoved Australia right over the line into criminal territory, and thus into the arms of George, Tony, and pugnacious American enforcers like Richard Armitage.
It is a matter of record that after Iraq was ejected from Kuwait, and forced to recognize the latter’s sovereignty, economic sanctions were imposed on Iraq until such time as that country completed the destruction of any and all nuclear, bacteriological and chemical weapons. Please note here that the legal sanctions imposed on Iraq refer to that country alone, and to its strictly limited territorial waters. They do NOT apply to international waterways in the Persian Gulf, which under international law may be used by ships of any nation without let or hindrance by others.
The cease-fire agreement signed by both Iraq and the western coalition after the Gulf War is known as United Nations Security Council Resolution 687, which does not call on Iraq to give up any of its sovereign territory, nor does it mention or even indirectly imply “No Fly Zones” over the north and south of the country. Resolution 687 is the only relevant document when it comes to defining Iraqi land, sea and air space. The so-called “No Fly Zones” were and are enforced by the Americans and British, but are completely illegal in international law. As the years rolled by after the Gulf War ended, and especially after John Howard became Prime Minister of his desert island, Australia was slowly but surely sucked into a deadly trap, goaded on by America to carry out “its fair share” of illegal shipping intercepts in international waters. Nothing too heavy at this stage, because Australians really weren’t injuring or killing anyone when they boarded foreign flag vessels illegally. But this low-level activity, carried out on John Howard’s direct orders, laid the groundwork for Australia’s later unswerving allegiance to America, and to American foreign policy.
Then two planes flew into the World Trade Center in September 2001, and politicians in the western world went completely insane. America demanded that its “allies” provide troops for an illegal attack on Afghanistan, and John Howard immediately committed the Australian Special Air Service [SAS] to American operations. SAS Sergeant Andrew Russell was killed during this illegal action on 16 February 2002.
Because he had ordered an illegal attack with no backing in international law, John Winston Howard was directly and solely responsible for Sergeant Russell’s death. It was John Howard’s first murder. Australia’s Prime Minister had finally joined the ranks of really hard-core war criminals like George and Tony, and there was no turning back for him beyond that point.
Suitably and thoroughly compromised in Afghanistan, Howard was egged on by his American minders to commit even more military resources to America’s upcoming illegal invasion of Iraq, which is certain to be vetoed by France or Russia or China, or perhaps by all three. When American enforcer Richard Armitage paid him a personal visit during December 2002, Howard unswervingly showed his allegiance to America by immediately agreeing to all of Armitage’s requests, without giving even a token thought to the needs of Australia’s internal national security.
America was very pleased of course, but still did not have Australia completely under the thumb, at least not yet. Threatening Howard with “War Crimes” in Afghanistan would sound really hollow coming from a nation that had just installed its very own puppet president in Kabul. No puppet president is likely to ask for war crimes trials to be conducted on those foreign politicians who helped run his public relations campaign, who installed him by use of illegal military force, and who continue to fill his Swiss bank account with almost limitless quantities of shekels.
In order to ensure John Howard’s [and thus Australia’s] future unswerving allegiance to America, the Prime Minister had to be sucked in a whole lot deeper than he already was. Armitage knew exactly how to do this, and specifically demanded that John Howard pre-position a squadron of FA-18 Hornet fighter jets in the Persian Gulf. By a strange coincidence, these jets fire the same cannon shells, missiles and bombs as their American counterparts, currently enforcing the illegal “No Fly Zones” over Iraq.
Armitage’s plan is to place Australian combat pilots in a position where their American and British “allies” in Kuwait can exert direct peer pressure, and encourage the unwitting Australian fighter pilots to do their “fair share” of patrols over southern Iraq, all of which are flown over Iraqi sovereign territory in flagrant defiance of international law. No worries about cannon shells, missiles or bombs, because America has plenty to spare for its inexperienced and gullible antipodean cousins.
It is difficult to imagine any young combat pilot withstanding this kind of peer pressure in a “combat” zone, which is exactly what Armitage and others have in mind. Once the Australian pilots have been properly “blooded” in the illegal “No Fly Zones” with a daily ration of exploding Iraqi women and children, there will be no way for Australia to exfiltrate from the Persian Gulf before the full-blown illegal invasion of Iraq starts. And because he issued the order deploying Australia's aircraft, John Howard will be up to his neck in very real multiple war crimes with his “friends” George and Tony.
Fortunately, any Australian citizen can stop this terrible mess before it actually happens, by simply explaining to John Howard that he no longer has the right to sit in the Australian House of Representatives, and thus no longer has the right to be Prime Minister of Australia. You see, John Howard has violated the Australian Constitution, which overrides all “international treaties” or “agreements”, real or imagined, between Australia and external foreign powers.
While this may at first seem like a strictly internal Australian matter, Americans and Brits are encouraged to read on a bit further. Though the American Constitution is quite different, and the British Constitution is unwritten and thus based on precedent, you might find that George and Tony have left themselves wide open in constitutional and criminal law. Never mind the misleading media hype, just go after the hard facts.
If the case is proved, then just like Nuremberg, certain protocols must be observed and followed. In the first instance under international law, you are obliged to carry out a citizen’s arrest of the suspect [George, Tony or John], and hand him directly to your national military police. Because the suspect is charged with war crimes, he must be escorted to The Hague by military rather than civil authorities.
Specifically where John Winston Howard is concerned, Section 44 (i) of the Australian Constitution disqualifies from parliamentary office any politician who:- “Is under any acknowledgement of allegiance, obedience, or adherence to a foreign power.”
There is no qualifying proviso in Section 44 that distinguishes between friend and foe, meaning that all foreign powers have exactly the same status and meaning under the Act. Thus there is absolutely no way out for a dumb or treasonous politician, who might later claim he was merely prostituting Australia’s precious people and resources to “help a friend in need”.
Thousands of feet of television news footage, and hundreds of column inches of newspaper reportage, prove that John Howard has made clear his allegiance to the United States of America, and that he will adhere to its strategic and tactical plans for Iraq, with or without legal approval by the United Nations Security Council. There are equally large volumes of TV and newspaper reportage proving America’s very public acknowledgement of Howard’s allegiance and adherence.
For those who might rush to John Winston Howard’s defence and claim that “Iraq hasn’t quite happened yet”, I would simply point out that they are already too late. The split second that John Howard ordered the Australian military into Afghanistan at the request of America, and in direct violation of international law, under the exact provisions of Section 44 (I) of the Australian Constitution, he disqualified himself from sitting in the House of Representatives, and thus disqualified himself from the executive post of Prime Minister of Australia.
Many Australian will probably mutter “I wish!”, while at the same time assuming that no court in Australia will eject John Howard from Parliament House in Canberra. Take it from me, those wise Australians who sat around a table drafting the Constitution back in 1900 anticipated this problem, and deliberately inserted Section 46 to ensure that disqualified politicians could be removed quickly and easily by any Australian citizen. Delightfully unambiguous in its wording, Section 46 states:
“Until the Parliament otherwise provides, any person declared by this Constitution to be incapable of sitting as a senator or as a member of the House of Representatives shall, for every day on which he so sits, be liable to pay the sum of one hundred pounds [about A$250.00 per day in 2003] to any person who sues for it in any court of competent jurisdiction.”
Wise men indeed. By inserting the words, “declared by this Constitution to be incapable of sitting”, the authors of the Constitution ensured that it was the wording of Section 44 alone that would remove the politician, and prevent direct or indirect intervention by a possibly corrupt or compromised Australian court of law. The wording is exact, and cannot be misinterpreted.
By inserting the words, “to any person who sues for it [the $250.00 per day fine] in any court of competent jurisdiction”, the authors of the Constitution ensured that every Australian citizen, no matter how rich or poor, had the easy ability to force the matter through the courts, and personally ensure that the disqualified member was ejected from Parliament House forever.
The most remarkable thing about Section 46 of the Australian Constitution, is that the authors appear to have anticipated members who would at some time in the future disqualify themselves, and deliberately inserted a cash reward as incentive for action to be promptly taken against the offender or offenders. At the very least, the resulting fine would cover legal costs in the competent court!
Time for a few calculations: The Australian forces sent illegally to Afghanistan by John Winston Howard, arrived on sovereign Afghan territory in Kabul on 12 December 2001, on which date Howard completely disqualified himself from the Australian Parliament under Section 44 (I). This means that as of today’s date, John Winston has been “incapable of sitting” in the Parliament for a total of 417 days at A$250.00 per day, which comes to an impressive total of A$104,250.00, give or take a few cents.
To be honest I could really use the cash myself, but am far too busy writing reports to spare the time needed to claim it. Come on, Australia! There must be someone out there who has a little spare time, and who could make good use of what equates to a reasonable lottery win. Try not to get killed in the rush to lodge your court claim, and remember I want half of the loot…
