I'm convinced that half-baked academics like Ellis are on a mission to out-stupid each other. The really sad part of it is that it is tolerated by officialdom & more likely than not their mindless lives are being handsomely supported by taxpayer funded schemes approved by unaccountable bureaucrats. Well, how else could they survive ?

Um, pragma - Ellis may be many things (writer/journalist, film-maker, political commentator and speechwriter, pisspot) but as far as I'm aware he's never been an academic.

However, I think he makes a valid rhetorical point in the quotations from his essay: Bush, Blair, Howard and the other COWboys prosecuted a hopeless and fraudulent war against the decisions of the UN, which has left a soveriegn state in ruins and has killed tens of thousands of innocent people. Who is going to call them to account?

I think a show trial at the Hague would be appropriate... as if!

cj morgan, i can see your perspective but do you seriously believe that these leaders enjoy invading another country & sending their troops & innocent civillians to their deaths ? you mention the UN. if ever there was a perfect example of incompetence & fraud then the UN fits the description. I hear people say "it's all about oil." ok, that may well be. so what ? how long do you think western consumer society would last without fuel & empty supermarket shelves. you'd have total anarchy in two weeks. remember hurricane Katrina ? just imagine if the resources being used to play policeman of the world could be used for genuine disaster relief instead of having to do battle with religous fanatical factions or hierarchies who think nothing of letting their people starve to death or other victimisation. Bush, Blair & Howard had no alternative. all the idealistic gobbledeegook in the world thus far has not solved those problems. if you want do do some good just remember the age-old & proven sayings- you've got to be cruel to be kind & prevention is better than cure.

One day everyone will wake up to the fact that we are all guilty of murder even those who tongue in cheek or ignorantly claim that Mr Bush, Blair and Howard should be tried. Thank God for Jesus who became sin so we could be viewed by God as sinless. The haters of Bush, Blair and Howard somehow think that their hearts are purer than everyone elses. Why is it that their are so many self righteous experts around. There is only One Man I know of who was truely Righteous.

It's interesting that most of the responses have little to do with what Ellis actually said in the (excert from) his article but more about his right to say anything at all.

Crackpot, stooge, loony lefty, academic, non-academic and so on but not much about the body of the text.

There haven't been many leaders who don't have blood on their hands and history has shown that most have even sacrificed the lives of some of their own citizens for the benefit of the majority. I expect this trend will continue.

The mood seems to be that if it takes the lives of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians to allow us to live in the manner in which we have become accustomed, then so be it.

Despite all the chest thumping self righteousness and post war justification that pervades these pages, it still seems like it was a very bad idea that is getting worse and will, at best, poison the next generation with the same hatreds that we havn't been able to overcome.

I think Bob Ellis has deeper and more profound thoughts than REAL stooges like like Pauline Hanson, Alan Jones or Andrew Bolt. (Winner of the UnAustralian of the Year Award - congratulations Andrew, well done.).

wobbles, to merely focus on the exact text of what some idealists write is just & if not more ignorant that those who despite 50/50 vision still can't see. the reality of it all is that people no matter where they are want more for less. be it religion or wealth or power some people are simply never satisfied. and that my lad is the cause of all the problems we have now. to accuse leaders who send troops to war to prevent even greater mayhem & call them war criminals is the height of either hypocricy or ignorance. take your pick. let's look at it this way. if the west decided not to take action now how long do you think it would be before anarchy spread across the globe ? do you think that playing ostrich is helping ? but that's exactly what the idealists are doing. they stick their heads into the sand & waffle on through their only other exposed orifice.