My point is that with all these so called trade boycotts, its the little people who are the losers, whilst those with nothing personally to lose talk about principles.

Aussie farmers are still today owed money from Iraq for wheat delivered before sanctions were ever put in place. No compensation from the politicians who now preach highly and mightily about principles.

International trade, especially is the Middle East, is a dirty game.
To play it, you have to play by their standards, not by yours, or you won't sell anything. Thats the reality of it.

It was fairly obvious that the UN sanctions thinggy was a dismal failure. Trucks were openly shown on tv, carting oil over the border as fast as their wheels could carry them. IIRC there was even a pipeline going over the border. It was one huge leaky sieve.

To stand back with all that going on and take a high and mighty stand, makes no sense to me, if its little people losing income over it. Thats exactly whats happening now. Guess who is laughing right now. The US Govt of course, another million tonnes of wheat sold to Iraq according to today's financial review, Aussie farmers the losers.

If Australian farmers were not paid how do they sustain supply to Iraq all these years?

"To play it, you have to play by their standards, not by yours, or you won't sell anything. That’s the reality of it."

No, there's nothin wrong with giving 300 million dollars to a homicidal/dictatorial maniac to buy guns and bullets so he can order the shooting of innocent women and children - but then commit our young men and women "to fight against terrorism" in Iraq - all in the same year. As long as we bring home the bacon everything’s cool bananas!

It certainly appears we played it by their ‘standards’.

I'm overcome with joy and pride to be an Australian once again! When will these moments of euphoric national pride ever end??

Yabby, i see. We lied and cheated to help the poor, so its alright. Nothing irks me more than the conservative line that they are helping the battlers.Yabby my initial post simply states that we dont need a Royal Commission to get to the bottom of this National disgrace.Your post seems to agree, but then descends into some lame justification for the lies and skullduggery.

Michael, ok I'll try and explain in a few words. Iraq is a long term Aus market for wheat. Money still outstanding from wheat deliveries from late 80s wheatpools, was never paid due to the sanctions. IIRC, since then some US companies and Kuwait companies have been paid for old debts, not Aussie farmers.

After the gulf war, Iraq paid for fresh wheat in various means, including 200 million$ worth of gold bars, which were flown to Perth to the Perth mint. When food for oil came about, Iraq bought another 2.3 billion $ worth of wheat from Aussie farmers, via the UN programme, paid by its oil sales.

The money from the 1980s, is still today owing to farmers. Politicians never bothered to compensate the farmers, despite it being their political decision which stopped Iraq from paying.
Efic (Insurance) did pay some, farmers have worn the rest as a loss.
Why just farmers? Why not taxpayers?

Rainer and hedgehog - the US has had a boycott on Cuba for 40 years now, do you think it made a difference to Castro? Of course not, its the poor people who do without. Yet the USSR fell without a single bullet or boycott, think about it...

IIRC it was Albright who said it acceptable for 500k Iraqi kids to die because of sanctions. Saddam did fine during sanctions, it was the poor who suffered.

Australia went to war in Iraq, based on flawed American intelligence. The West is going to have to rethink its strategy of getting rid of dictators. No need to kill tens of thousands, to get rid of just a few individuals.

IMHO its the AWBs job to sell wheat, end of story. The politicians can squabble all they like about whatever they like. In the end, wheat feeds people, so it matters. The farmers who grow it, need to be paid too. I'll take notice of politicians, where they accept financial responsibility for their political decisions. As farmers are still owed money for wheat supplied in the late 80s, that is clearly not the case in Australia

Whoa, Yabby. What are you saying? Farmers are owed money from the 80's, therefore it is ok for our Gov. to lie to us about thier clear involvement in the bribes paid to the 'Butcher of Baghdad'. I think you miss the point. It is not wether you agree with the bribes, or dont agree with them.
The core point is, we dont need a public enquiry to confirm the obvious. Howard et al, were in it up to thier ears.