The Independent Member for Denison, Andrew Wilkie, has responded to former Prime Minister John Howard’s address to the Lowy Institute last night regarding the Howard Government’s decision to invade Iraq.
“Former Prime Minister John Howard trotted out more dishonest nonsense during his Iraq War address to the Lowy Institute last night,” Mr Wilkie said.
“The fact is Australia’s involvement in the Iraq War was not ethical, not necessary and not legal. Faced with the opportunity last night to say sorry for getting it so terribly wrong, Mr Howard instead argued that the war was not based on a lie and in doing so just went and made the lie that bit bigger.
“Mr Howard argues the invasion of Iraq was not based on a lie because there existed a ‘near universal’ belief that Saddam Hussein possessed an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). But the reality is that the best intelligence material available in the lead up to the March 2003 invasion was ambiguous about WMD, but clear that Saddam Hussein posed no significant threat to any other country and was not cooperating with the al Qaida terror network.
“The Iraq War will remain a festering sore in Australia’s history until a proper inquiry into our country’s involvement is held, and those responsible for the misadventure held to account. Such an inquiry should include the still secret assessments and reports, diplomatic cables and emails which clearly explain the thinking in Washington and London at the time, and which make a mockery of Mr Howard’s repeated attempts to justify the debacle.
“I am in a privileged position to make these assertions seeing as I resigned from Australia’s senior intelligence agency, the Office of National Assessments, nine days before the invasion of Iraq on the grounds the war was in fact based on a lie.”
