Reminder of PM's 'false premise':Australia

[cal04]

THE end of the US search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq was a sober reminder of the false premise on which Prime Minister John Howard took Australia to war, Labor said today. The search for the arsenal ended before Christmas, and the White House said a report declaring there were no such weapons in Iraq would likely stand.

The report by the head of the Iraq Survey Group, Charles Duelfer, said deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had the intent but not the capacity to make weapons of mass destruction. Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd said the elimination of weapons of mass destruction stockpiles was the single reason given by Mr Howard for going to war.

"He did this despite then UN Chief Weapons Inspector Hans Blix arguing that weapons inspectors needed more time to do their work before they could reach definitive conclusions on Iraq's WMD status," he said. Mr Rudd said Mr Howard and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer had to admit that Australia was misled.

"Nearly two years after the Howard Government took Australia to war in Iraq we are now authoritatively told that the reason for going to war was simply not true," he said. "But the arrogance of the Howard Government is underlined by the fact that despite the Iraq Survey Group abandoning all hope of finding WMD, neither Mr Howard nor Mr Downer have had the decency to admit that Australia was misled on the reasons for going to war in the first place."


http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,11928962%255E1702,00.html

[Supersedeas]

1. funny how the report comes just before Christmas...almost like someone

was delaying the report until AFTER THE ELECTION.

Could it have made a difference for supporters of the OFFICE of the Presidency to know that the Holder of that office lied to the American people.

Nah, 'Merica's don't care about no stinking justifications for a little o war in the desert.

[Matilda]

2. The timing of this is bad.

It looks very much as if Mark Latham will quite the leadership on
"health grounds", perhaps as early as today, so the Labor Party
will lack an effective spokesperson to push this issue.

Unless perhaps Kevin Rudd takes on the job?

[rooboy]

3. Rudd is looking like the front-runner.

Latham's finished, that's for sure. If Rudd had a bit more personality, he might actually make a decent PM. He'd definitely be a better foreign minister than Downer.