Thanks for the link StG
The war is like watching a game of monopoly or chess being played and controlled by a small elite purportedley acting in the interests of the citizenry.

Knowing something is one one thing, what to do about it another. As citizens our only power is in our vote, but when the major parties are propping up the same system...what then? The Greens are the only party, along with some Independents, who are advocating an end to the war and Australians won't vote on a singular issue like this one - and what is there to encourage it if both choices are sprouting the same rhetoric? Many voters will go away too inundated, confused, disinterested or disillusioned and will be cast their one vote to whichever party will deliver tax cuts or more middle class welfare.

Michael Ware's experience was shown on Australian Story - worth a listen.

http://www.abc.net.au/austory/specials/prisonerwar/default.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/austory/specials/prisonerwartwo/default.htm

csteele,

Yeah, it's a massively interesting one and what we're being sold by the government and media is the more palatable version of the truth. Reading the 'papers' (online and off) really offends me in regards to the rubbish that's sold off as news. I honestly can't name one reporter other than Ware that really has a passion for the truth; and I know a few. It's quite obvious he does, and finding the truth really isn't any harder than talking to the right people and having 'a set'.

I really don't think this is a 'safe' conflict, it's just that they've found a 'stalemate' balance in doing the job and not getting slaughtered. We really shouldn't understate the job our services are doing there.

pelican,

Ware said it all when he said we get what we deserve. The government are learning how to read our whims, albeit poll to poll, we just need to learn how to create what we deserve in a positive way. Not in a cosmic justice way like what we've got now. Our choices in Canberra are a joke.

I think we're big enough to be able to handle some honesty in what is REALLY going on around the world. The nanny state really has us wrapped in cotton wool.

President Obama has made some incredibly irresponsible “Campaign” promises, but none more alarming than that dealing with “troop-reductions” in Afghanistan. The volte-face, with Hamid Karzai wishing to make a deal with the Taliban (who are so well known for their respect for Democracy), seems almost heaven-sent for a struggling President.

This, while Australian and NATO forces are heading into another fighting season (http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/diggers-must-prepare-for-taliban-offensive-suicide-bombers-stephen-smith/story-fn59niix-1226043546595), with the prospect of heavier and heavier casualties. Like anyone who has served in the Army post-Vietnam, I shudder at the thought of a war fought by those in Washington/Canberra, with decisions based upon short-term Political/Monetary gain (in this case both, Obama’s reelection campaign is being heavily subsidized by Companies with interests in Pakistan, how can that NOT influence his decision making?).

So where does that leave us? Where does that leave the people of Afghanistan who we so proudly liberated from the Taliban 10 years ago? Because if the Taliban is allowed to dictate the peace, then those very same people have nothing to look forward to other than civil war and life in a failed-state. The gains made to date, with enormous cost to all concerned, will evaporate like water in a desert. Even our Prime Minister is not committing to a troop reduction anything like that suggested lately by the Pentagon/White House, nor are the troops from the UK, etc. So where will that leave our forces? We have approximately 1,500 troops on the ground now, but if the Americans start withdrawing forces before the job is complete, will we do so too? Or will we and our allies (most notably the UK, NZ & Canada) have to step up and take over from the US Forces that have been withdrawn prematurely?

I suspect that the undercurrent of disgust amongst, particularly Commonwealth forces, at the President’s willingness to cut & run, purely for the sake of reelection (thus devaluing the sacrifices made to date), may well be at the root of the President & First Lady’s missing out on an invitation recently (wouldn’t be that “WE” are not amused, would it? http://www.calgaryherald.com/entertainment/Canada+billionaire+couple+royal+wedding+guest+list/4666334/story.html).

I'm extremely interested, from several points of view, as to what will happen next. Are our best interests served by continuing to slavishly bind ourselves to America over the Commonwealth? It is actually starting to become rather a pressing question, how can we abandon our soldiers (we know the Yanks can, will and have) and show our faces at ANZAC Day services, let alone look in the mirror?

The other, larger question is, are our best interests in the region (being Southern Asia) best served by maintaining our alliance with America at all? India is the resident power in Southern Asia now and well into the future, we undertake regular exercises with Singapore, Malaysia, India, etc. already and the single group that can place the largest, best equipped, military contingent on the ground in the shortest possible time in our region, is the Commonwealth (India has several Aircraft Carriers, MIG-29's, Nuclear Weapons, etc).

Have the American's made a fatal error here? Their willingness to abandon their allies (and to render their contributions meaningless), we are not part of NATO and apart from the ANZUS Treaty (which has already been called into question over East Timor in 1975), we have no real obligation to follow their lead. If the Commonwealth decides to remain in Afghanistan, to support India (over Pakistan & the Taliban), thus assisting the Baluchi, Hazara & Tajik people of the region, I suspect we'll remain in place (albeit with a sizeable increase in ground forces).

ohhh aaron
your heart beats to the drum of war
[i spent 3 mounths supporting the signapure army at shoal water bay]
they are a sad lot..40 died just traveling by convoy from sydney to rockhampton..8 died from eating them lovely orange palm fruits..

their armed 'forces' are basiclly illiterate peasents
if thats your best war card mate its worse than i thought

anyhow your posting reminds me
FALSE-FLAG ALERT

Reuters Hezbollah terror attack
on Israelis abroad ‘is imminent’
http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=217482

Why not just put up a flashing neon sign that says, "False Flag Attack Coming from Israel to Blame on Lebanon" and get it over with?

Remember Lavon affair?

USS Liberty?

Bombing of the King David Hotel?

a sign
http://uruknet.com/?p=m77077&hd=&size=1&l=e
more signs
http://www.revoltoftheplebs.com/categories/rogues-gallery/video-inside-the-%e2%80%9cmind%e2%80%9d-of-israeli-propagandist-mark-regev/

recall this
israel armed faulklanders
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1379008/A-deep-rooted-hatred-British-How-Israelis-armed-junta-Falklands-conflict.html#ixzz1KT9BZNL9

Carving Up Pakistan:
The Balochistan Gambit
http://www.blacklistednews.com/Carving_Up_Pakistan%3A_The_Balochistan_Gambit/13623/0/0/0/Y/M.html

The "String of Pearls" doctrine
encapsulated in a 2006 Strategic Studies Institute report,
aims at co-opting, destabilizing and otherwise neutralizing nation states cooperating with China and enabling it to project power and influence along its long and vulnerable oil link to the Middle East.

Starting in Africa, throughout the Middle East, into Central Asia and terminating in Southeast Asia, the United States has been conducting a widespread campaign of doing just this

idf raiding schools now?
http://uruknet.com/?p=m77057&hd=&size=1&l=e
pakies dont like drones
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42715278/ns/world_news-south_and_central_asia/
israel the new south africa
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/netanyahu-is-turning-israel-into-another-south-africa-1.357519
http://desertpeace.wordpress.com/2011/04/22/israeli-apartheid-hits-the-supermarkets/

why goldstein backflipped
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mj-rosenberg/goldstone-flinched-for-re_b_846083.html

here is what israelies think about jesus
http://desertpeace.wordpress.com/2011/04/23/mocking-jesus-on-israeli-tv/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JA6vRC1xW_c
http://desertpeace.wordpress.com/2011/04/24/feeling-the-hate-over-and-over-again/

seems its a crime to tell the truth re zionism
http://www.judeofascism.com/2010/02/orwellian-global-anti-semitism-review.html

lets march?
http://mycatbirdseat.com/2011/04/third-palestinian-intifada-all-arabs-to-march-on-israel-on-may-15th/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxdaHM7rgag&feature=channel_video_title

people are waking up?
http://revolutionarypolitics.tv/video/viewVideo.php?video_id=14702
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=45671
http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/treasonanddisloyalty.php
but some live their life in a vacume
http://desertpeace.wordpress.com/2011/04/24/israelis-living-life-in-a-vacuum/
http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/10641.aspx

UOG, Hezbollah (due to the inadequacies of the IDF Commanders, as was determined by an inquiry into the same) believes it won the Second Lebanese War. It did. But what, precisely has it "won"? Propaganda is a valuable tool, however, Hezbollah cannot govern with the current 'staus quo'. All of a sudden, Syria is in all sorts of strife and badly needs to re-unify it's citizen's with a healthy dose of "the Zionist's are coming" scare (that is the reason for the ongoing State of Emergency in Syria). Assad is watching events in Libya and for once, is not able to kill his troublesome citizen's with the abandon he's used to, so they'll have to be scared into submission.

What's that add up to? Hezbollah (an ally of Syria) attacks Israel & the world's attention will, predictably, be on Israel and how terrible the attacks on Lebanon are, meanwhile Assad can resume his reign of terror (without unwanted attention).

As to the Singaporean Armed forces losing 40-odd men at Shoalwater Bay, I'm afraid to say it never happened and challenge you to actually prove the same (reputable sources only).

With 200 Million distinctly unfriendly Muslim's directly to our North (who will be eying off the Timor Gap Oilfields again), we need a major alliance in THIS region. The Commonwealth looks like about the only player possible, and is big enough (India's population will outstrip China's in the near future, it is already >1 Billion). Get rid of the major source of instability in the region (Pakistan/Afghanistan) and place the same under Indian rule (as autonomous territories) and all of a sudden the world is a VERY different place. Malaysia and Indonesia balance one another out nicely.