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The Forum > Article Comments > Howard will sink with Bush > Comments

Howard will sink with Bush : Comments

By Bruce Haigh, published 26/2/2007

John Howard's defence of the indefensible will see him die in a ditch supporting the president he most admires.

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Gee Bruce I'm so sorry I have a different opinion to you. You are so obviously 'correct'. But humour me, tell me what Rudd has enunciated as his policies on Iraq, especially on withdrawal?

As a 'wet behind the ears' voter I'd like to know.

Or shouldn't I expect that? Should I just vote for him on blind trust?

As you tell everybody you know more than me, and I believe you, I'd like your honest advice.
Posted by keith, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 2:09:00 AM
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I don’t know what motivates Howard to stand so close by Bush, whose poor judgment and stupid decisions have lead thousands of Americans to their deaths and created an insurmountable level of government debt – no wonder he is so unpopular. The more Howard stands by this moron, the more moronic he becomes in the eyes of Australians. Let’s face it, Australian troops in Iraq are irrelevant: there are so few, our absence would not even be noticed.

In some ways Bush was justified in doing something with Iraq – remember US troops had been in southern Iraq since 1991, so the US wanted closure – but Bush and Rumsfeld were too cocksure that the whole thing would be a walkover. They didn’t foresee getting bogged down in local politics – Sunni versus Shiite. The shambles in Iraq and preoccupation with it has also resulted in neglect of unfinished business in Afghanistan – an increasingly sharper thorn in Bush’s legacy. I don’t know what the solution is, but dialogue and peace talks cannot possibly be worse than Texan gun-ho ignorance.

As to Howard, I think his pride and ego are his biggest problem, and will be his, and possibly the whole coalition’s downfall. Howard has failed to anoint a successor, but keeps hanging on to the bitter end. I would have liked to have seen a transition to another leader – I don’t know who, Costello or Turnbull. Though a conservative voter, I have never liked Howard – I recall his stubborn and authoritarian ways when he was Fraser’s treasurer in the early 1980’s, so I look forward to his end. Nonetheless I have no confidence in Rudd/Labor: the arrogance of Keating and Hawke are still fresh in my mind. Some of Rudd's remarks on climate change are a revealing insight into his ignorance.
Posted by Robg, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 12:22:44 PM
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Howard dodges the question of how long Australian forces will be kept in Iraq. Will this be in the 10 years + range as with Vietnam ? Or the 30 + years of Ulster ?

If the Australian involvement is so critical to Iraq surely those supporting it would be strongly arguing for more troops. Obama was right, Howard should put up or shut up.

In any event I think the idea of an open ended commitment is laughable, especially if the basis for withdrawal is that Iraq is democratic, free, and peaceful. Good luck with that trifecta.

Rudd has been proposing the Baker Hamilton recommendation of phased withdrawal. Hardly cut and run.
Posted by westernred, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 1:56:18 PM
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It will not be Irag and Howards stubborness regarding this war that will bring him down - and I dont think people should be seeing him off just yet - and in fact there may be nothing that brings him down this time at all

Rightly he will be remembered for being a fool for our involvement in this war. And when people realised the lost opportunities in infrastrucutre improvement, health and education, that went down the drain with the billions spent on jumping at terrorist shadows and keeping a standing army in the Iraqi deserts for years on a fools errand - his credibiltiy as an economic manager may be shown in a poor light as well.



He is just extremely lucky we have not had deaths proportional to our contribution of mlitary personell so far - for had it been in the order of that - we would have been gone long ago.

But as for his downfall he has several months to take a deep breath and take Rudd on - Rudd has said nothing yet - he has agreed broadly with Howards water initiative - agreed broadly with Howards new allocation to Aged Care - agreed with the pursuit of clean coal technology - and who knows where he stands on Nuclear Energy - but to date he has hammered very few colors to the mast.

Iit will be only then we can make even a half arsed guess at Howards future
Posted by sneekeepete, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 4:45:24 PM
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'His defence of Bush's Iraq policy and his attack on Barack Obama indicates that he has irrevocably tied himself to the fate of the current US Administration.'

This is an intriguing remark. What is the fate of the current US Administration?

That's right their term expires in 2008 and Bush cannot stand for re-election for he has served the maximun 8 years.

Didn't you know that Bruce? So will John Howard go in similar circumstances? Hardly, simple logic dictates their fates are not irrevocably tied.

If you really mean you think Howard might be tied to the fate of the Republicans ... well then you are presuming Hillary will be the next President of the US. I think you might be overlooking the possibility of another Republican in the White House. The name John McCain springs to mind and he supports the policy of George
Posted by keith, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 4:53:21 PM
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Mr. Howard rails against Mr. Rudd in relation to pulling troops out of Iraq; that's not bad; after all, the decision to go into Iraq was one of the dumbest decisions made in Australia for a long time. At the time of the incursion it was recognized that the intelligence was a bit thin. Prior to the incursion many argued that the Coalition of the willing had no knowledge of the culture of Iraq or of likely reactions to Coalition troops by Iraqi’s once on Iraq soil.
As a result of the incursion there is now a civil war; innocent Iraqis are not only in danger from the heinous terrorists; but also in danger from sectarian violence, or being zapped by “friendly fire”.

Mr. Howard has commented that Mr. Rudd does not have the experience to be Prime Minister; yet, Mr. Howard has made less than adequate decisions in relation to Iraq. People with large mortgages must be pretty angry also; the Coalition used interest rates to create fear in the electorate during the last election; the Coalition has not been able to provide safe guards in relation to interest rates, and so can be regarded as quite hypercritical in this regard. There has been a record number of mortgage sales; not a good legacy.

Lately, the Coalition has been making a lot of fuss in relation to Mr. Rudd having had contact with former Premier Bourke and it has now come to light that the Federal Environment Minister has had contact with Mr. Bourke also. It’s pretty apparent that the Coalition has no answers in how to handle Mr. Rudd and so is using gutter tactics to try and undermine him.
Posted by ant, Saturday, 3 March 2007 11:28:39 AM
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