What is happening to the minds of men. If it is unnatural nonsense it is being promoted today. Commonsense has become a tragic misnomer and the enemy.

I agree with the comments that John Howard should also be charged for war crimes. In fact I am at a complete loss to understand why Australia keeps getting a free pass on this. Maybe it has something to do with our reputation as fun-loving hedonists.

I’m concerned about Australia’s creeping, insidious influence on world politics, beginning subtly enough, probably with its introduction of nanny-state laws, such as those relating to seatbelts:
http://www.tsc.berkeley.edu/newsletter/Winter04/australia.html
... or what about our anti-association laws that criminalize people (in this case, bikers) just for belonging to a group:
http://www.umcwa.org/news.php

Consistent with the tradition of introducing the world to innovative, anti-democratic ideas, our previous prime minister, John Howard, showed George W Bush what he can get away with. He was silencing dissent for a good 5 years before Bush became president. Bush had plenty of opportunity to observe and learn. And then they became buddies. And then the two buddies became partners in strategy. And through our Australian example, we brought Americans the Patriot Act and the Iraq war:
http://www.silencingdissent.com.au/
http://www.newsweekly.com.au/articles/2006oct28_b1.html

So once again, I ask. Why is John Howard getting a free pass? I don’t get it. This New World Order has at least John Howard’s smelly breath all over it, if not his finger-prints.

It's even simpler than that, chuckew.

>> In fact I am at a complete loss to understand why Australia keeps getting a free pass on this. Maybe it has something to do with our reputation as fun-loving hedonists.<<

We are, in global political terms, entirely irrelevant. If they haven't yet got around to taking Tony Blair to task on this, why on earth do you think they would bother with a superannuated suburban solicitor on the other side of the world?

>>We are, in global political terms, entirely irrelevant. If they haven't yet got around to taking Tony Blair to task on this, why on earth do you think they would bother with a superannuated suburban solicitor on the other side of the world?<<

For one very good reason, Pericles. I believe that the Iraq war, the Patriot Act and the rest would not have happened without John Howard's contributions. It is normal for strategists to run simulation programs to test for outcomes. Australia under John Howard was a simulation program running for five years before Bush got elected. The outcome of that simulation satisfied Bush that the time was right. I remember in 2005, Richard Armitage's priceless comment on Australian tv, something along the lines of "your guys [Canberra] are doing things that are making us [Bush administration] go weak at the knees." 'Nuff said?

Chuckew,it now is a lot worse than the patriot act.Obama has instigated "preventative detention" so even if you are suspected of a crime you can be indefinitely detained without legal council or trial. Obama now wants to legalise assassination of suspected terrorists.The USA and Aust are one step from being a totalitarian facist state.

There is now overwhelming scientific proof that 911 was an inside job.
http://ae911truth.org/

Yeah, right.

>>...the Iraq war, the Patriot Act and the rest would not have happened without John Howard's contributions.<<

No, of course they wouldn't.

Our contribution was so, so important, none of these events would have taken place without us.

Well, that's an opinion.

If you are correct, of course, it is one of the most compelling reasons I have so far seen for Howard to be forever labelled a traitor to his country. He sold us all out, to satisfy his own ambition.

I just think he was trying to big-note himself; Blair and Bush would have gone ahead without him, but he just couldn't bear to see them embark on this big adventure without him. He was brought up on a literary diet of the Famous Five and Biggles, and was powerless to resist the sheer excitement of it all.

As long as he wasn't in any danger himself, of course.

The "little man" syndrome, writ large.