*Satire: Leunig, with permission http://www.leunig.com.au/
ABC pic of John Howard, when PM
The Independent Member for Denison, Andrew Wilkie, has responded to John Howard’s embarrassment over the absence of Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq.
“Former Prime Minister John Howard says he is embarrassed that no WMD was found in Iraq,’’ Mr Wilkie said.
“He should instead feel deeply ashamed but grateful that he hasn’t been charged with conspiracy to commit mass murder.
“The fact is Mr Howard deliberately misled the community every time he exaggerated the threat posed by Iraq.
“He knew full well there was no hard evidence that Iraq had a massive arsenal of WMD or was cooperating with Osama bin Laden.
“As it turned out no WMD was found, nor evidence of cooperation with bin Laden.
“For him to continue to blame the intelligence agencies is plain wrong.
“His continued cherry-picking of intelligence is nothing more than an attempt to dishonestly distract people from the fact that politicians, not spies, make wars.
“There was an abundance of intelligence material pointing to Iraq having a disjointed and contained WMD program and not posing a threat warranting the 2003 invasion.
“But invade he, the US and UK did which destroyed Iraq and created the conditions for Islamic State to emerge and prosper.’’
• ABC RN Breakfast: Iraq, WMDs and counter-terrorism: Andrew Wilkie
John Howard: Ummm, ahh… I felt embarrassed – I couldn’t believe it, because I had genuinely believed it. I was struck by the force of the language used in … in the American national intelligence assessment in November 2002. It brought together all the American intelligence and … and paragraph after paragraph they said: we judge Iraq has got weapons of mass destruction. and even talked about potential nuclear capacity. Now, that wasn’t made up! It may have been an erroneous conclusion based on the available information, but it wasn’t made up.
Fran Kelly: That was John Howard speaking on the Seven Network last night. Well, back in 2003 Andrew Wilkie famously resigned from the Office of National Assessments [ONA] because he believed the intelligence on weapons of mass destruction was overblown. These days he’s the Independent Member for Denison; he’s speaking with our political editor, Alison Carabine.
Alison Carabine: John Howard says he couldn’t believe that no Weapons of Mass Destruction were ever found in Iraq; in fact he feels ‘embarrassed’. What’s your feeling? Is it vindication?
Andrew Wilkie: Well, I don’t know about vindication. I know John Howard should be feeling a darn sight more than embarrassed, he should be feeling quite lucky that, ahh … conceivably he hasn’t been charged with conspiracy to commit mass murder. I mean the fact is Australia joined in the invasion of Iraq 11½ years ago based on lies. Back then the government was saying that Iraq had a massive arsenal of weapons of mass destruction; was co-operating with Al Qaeda and it was only a matter of time before those weapons would be passed to those terrorists. [2.17]
Alison Carabine: Andrew Wilkie, how can John Howard possibly be charged with conspiracy to commit mass murder when the invasion was made seemingly in good faith? John Howard does make the point that ‘while the conclusion may have been erroneous, it was based on the best available information; it wasn’t made up’. Surely no intelligence can ever be perfect?
Andrew Wilkie: And Alison there in is the lie! The fact is before the invasion of Iraq [March 2003] the best intelligence was pointing to Iraq have a limited and disjointed WMD capability and that is exactly what I said the day I resigned from the Office of National Assessments [ONA]. I was surprised as anyone that nothing at all was found, because the intelligence was pointing to some sort of limited capability, but certainly nothing that was a threat to any other country in the region at the time; and certainly no threat to the West. So every time John Howard and Alexander Downer [Australian Foreign Minister] and others stood up in the Parliament and elsewhere and talked about this arsenal. That was a fabrication, it was a lie.
Alison Carabine: And you think the Prime Minister, the then Prime Minister and his ministers knew at the time that it was a lie and a fabrication?
Andrew Wilkie: I do think it was known to them. Hence I use – it is a very strong word – ‘lie’ and I am using it very deliberately because I am firmly of the view and I have been unwavering for 11½ years that these people – including the Prime Minister – deliberately mislead the Australian community. Now yes, he does have a 2002 United States report to refer to, but this is a case of him cherry-picking again. What of the secret ONA reports [Australian intelligence gathering] that he also saw at that time and before the invasion which explored the thinking in Washington and London … and the thinking behind why they wanted to go to war. Those reports informed by diplomatic cables from the ONA liaison officer and others – in Washington and London – explored in some detail what was going on there and made it quite clear WMD was really just a front. [4.10]
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