War with Iraq - Australia

In debates about war with Iraq, we hear few comments about Australia, deemed to be too far away from the zone of conflict to be important. The resignation of a State Department officer in protest against US plans for war with Iraq was dismissed by some as a ploy to get a job in an international agency. It is hard to make the same cynical criticism of an Australian who did the same thing, as reported by Reuters (3/13/03): "Intelligence adviser quits over 'dumb' war: A senior intelligence adviser to Australian Prime Minister John Howard resigned in a protest against Australia's likely involvement in a war with Iraq. The analyst with the Office of National Assessments (ONA) said the Australian government's backing of war to disarm Iraq, if necessary, was "dumb and not worth the risk". "Going to war against Iraq, invading Iraq, is exactly the course of action most likely to cause Saddam to lash out recklessly, to use weapons of mass destruction, and maybe even play the terrorism card," Andrew Wilkie told Channel Nine television in an interview. "It's bad policy, dumb policy, if only because all of the other options have not yet been exhausted," he said".

Ronald Hilton - 3/12/03