Prime Minister John Howard says Sgt Locke died serving the "just cause" of liberty and freedom.Well, fuck that. Of course the whole thing is political: we wouldn't even be there if it wasn't for Bush and Howard. Sergeant Locke would not be dead if Bush had accepted the Taliban's offer to hand over Bin Laden. And even if you support the misguided military intervention in Afghanistan, it's now obvious to any serious observers that the whole thing has become a massive, politics-driven cock-up -ever since attention, funds and forces were diverted to Iraq.
Mr Howard says the fallen soldier's death reminds all Australians of their debt of gratitude to the men and women in the defence force.
Labor leader Kevin Rudd has praised Sgt Locke for making the ultimate sacrifice and says he does not want to politicise the incident.
Even the UN's proposed new "super envoy" to Afghanistan now says the war there is lost. And the head of the UK Armed Forces says the disastrous war there will drag on for many years - until a political solution is found:
"There is a common misperception that the issues in Afghanistan, and indeed elsewhere around the world, can be dealt with by military means. That's a false perception. The military is a key, an essential element in dealing with those problems, but by and large these problems can only be resolved politically."But our political leaders cannot even speak the truth on these matters. So meanwhile, the horror drags on, day after day, for the ordinary citizens of Afghanistan and Iraq, to whom so much was promised, and so little delivered.
