We have Howard's amorality and Beazley's weakness to thank for this situation. Howard encourages and Beazley is frightened to tackle the racism, bigotry, ignorance and fear of most Australians. Laurie. ------------ ----- Original Message ----- From: "Trudy Bray" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "news-clip" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, September 20, 2001 10:38 AM Subject: SMH - Prejudice, hatred, ignorance: trifecta that leaves reason last > The Sydney Morning Herald > Prejudice, hatred, ignorance: trifecta that leaves reason last > > Date: 20/09/2001 > > Never mind Bush's 'crusade'. We are already fighting our war, and it's against the helpless victims of today's Nazis, writes > Margo Kingston. > > I'd just lifted my head out of my hands after hearing the leader of the free world announce he was leading his allies into "a crusade" - the > Christian term for a holy war - when I received an email from an army bloke I'd locked horns with many years ago during the debate on > gays in the Defence Force. > > Brigadier Adrian D'hage has retired to write a novel. Winner of the Military Cross in Vietnam, he's a larger-than-life figure who ran > defence public relations before heading defence force security planning for the Olympics. He holds an honours degree in theology. > > He wrote: "WANTED - DEAD or ALIVE !?? Whilst our heartfelt sympathies are with those whose lives have been shattered by this > truly criminal act, the rhetoric from the US President gets more disturbing each day. Already, US citizens have been promised a decisive > victory - and decisive victories against unseen enemies can never be delivered. > > "The Australian Government has signed a blank cheque - without the foggiest notion of what might be planned. Whatever happens, > history will question the wisdom of that course. And whatever we do, we will have to do it without the Army engineers who are > exhausted on Nauru. > > "It is time to take a very deep breath." > > Just how blank the cheque is became clear yesterday, when John Howard announced on ABC Radio: "We leave open the option of any > kind of military involvement which we are capable of and would be appropriate. And yes, that includes troops." > > That brings the reality home, as do comments by Afghan-American writer Tamim Ansary: "Maybe the bombs would get some of those > disabled orphans. They don't move too fast, they don't even have wheelchairs. But flying over Kabul and dropping bombs wouldn't > really be a strike against the criminals who did this horrific thing. Actually, it would only be making common cause with the Taliban - by > raping once again the people they've been raping all this time. > > "What can be done, then? Let me now speak with true fear and trembling. The only way to get bin Laden is to go in there with ground > troops. > > "We're flirting with a world war between Islam and the West. And guess what: that's bin Laden's program. > > "Read his speeches and statements. It's all right there. He really believes Islam would beat the West. It might seem ridiculous, but he > figures if he can polarise the world into Islam and the West, he's got a billion soldiers. > > "If the West wreaks a holocaust in those lands, that's a billion people with nothing left to lose. That's even better from bin Laden's point > of view. He's probably wrong; in the end the West would win, whatever that would mean, but the war would last for years and millions > would die - not just theirs, but ours. > > "Who has the belly for that? Bin Laden does. Anyone else?" > > Maybe we do, maybe we don't. But our leaders had better start preparing us for it instead of filling us with indignation. > > And maybe we'd better realise that we're already fighting our own war. Our fleet is patrolling the high seas boarding and repelling leaky > boats. We have our own prisoners of war on the Manoora. We're building our own prisoner-of-war camps on Nauru and Christmas > Island. It's costing us millions a day. Wartime powers are invoked as civil liberties and the rule of law are threatened in the cause of, > according to John Howard, "our national sovereignty". > > Labor has just agreed to the first case of mandatory sentencing in Federal law. It will apply only to Indonesians - the poor sods at the end > of the people smuggling chain. They'll spend a minimum of three years in jail for a first offence. Labor has agreed to exclude courts from > any role in the fate of our prisoners. > > Most strangely, our war is against the people fleeing today's equivalent of Nazi Germany, the Taliban. As we back the US in bombing > the bejesus out of Afghanistan, as Australian citizens face execution for carrying the Bible in Afghanistan, we wage our own war against > Afghan refugees. We pretend they are really Taliban terrorists sent to infiltrate our detention camps. Our Defence Force exhausts itself > on a war against Afghan refugees before the war begins against their oppressors. > > This is bipartisan policy. There is no mainstream political debate on the merits of this farce. In the vacuum, prejudice, hatred and > ignorance flourish. There is no space for reason. > > This material is subject to copyright and any unauthorised use, copying or mirroring is prohibited. > http://www.smh.com.au/news/0109/20/text/opinion1.html > > > ************************************************************************* > This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without > permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, > scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal > copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of > the copyright owner, except for "fair use." > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] --------------------------------------------------------------------- RecOzNet2 has a page @ http://www.green.net.au/recoznet2 and is archived at http://www.mail-archive.com/recoznet2%40paradigm4.com.au/ until 11 March, 2001 and Recoznettwo is archived at http://www.mail-archive.com/recoznettwo%40green.net.au/ from that date. 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