Fairfax newspapers report that Mr Howard will link the Iraq war to oil for the first time in a speech on the future direction of national defence policy.Howard wants to steer conversation away from the lies that led to war, and instead start a national debate on our future military alliances, our energy needs, and our ever-so-precious economy.
Mr Howard's keynote speech to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute in Canberra will all but bury the 30-year-old "defence of Australia" policy...
The update will also predict that the US will remain the dominant global military and economic power in military and economic terms for decades, but Australia would need to get used to the presence of other major powers on its doorstep, including China, India and Japan.
Mr Howard will also talk about a "long war" against terrorism and warn that there is unlikely to be any let-up.
So here is the truth, buried in convoluted rhetoric, which Howard will offer us: we no longer go to war in defence of our nation, we go to war to secure energy supplies for ourselves and our allies in Washington. And it does not matter if a million Iraqis die, and another 5 million are displaced, as we destroy their country. It does not matter how many more countries we invade to feed our hunger for oil, or how many more people die. This is the price that innocent people must pay for our greed. Our nation has become a mercenary state beholden to US power.
And every other rationale for the Iraq War that has ever been presented was just a lie, as I have conclusively proved below.
Will the Australian people buy it? Many already have.
UPDATE: Brendan Nelson jumps on board:
Dr Nelson says that when it comes to Iraq, Australia needs to support its allies, stop Al Qaeda securing a foothold, and secure oil supplies...So the truth is out: we will never leave Iraq until we have helped secure that country's oil reserves for US-based Big Oil. And given that Iraq's enfeebled government cannot even pass a meaningful draft of a cut-down version of the Oil Law (originally written by Big Oil consultants), and given that the insurgency shows no signs whatsoever of abating, this means that any meaningful Australian exit strategy is somewhere so far over the rainbow as to be totally invisible. What criminal greed and ineptitude!
Dr Nelson says it is Australia's interest to leave Iraq in a sustainable security position when troops are eventually withdrawn.
"It's the conditions on the ground that will determine how long we stay in Iraq, not the political conditions in Australia."
Please make your voices heard this time, folks - Howard's radical change to our nation's defence policy will mean more such Oil Wars are inevitable! Send letters to newspapers and government reps!
Or even Contact Your Prime Minister!
