Well, it’s great to see Alexander Downer having a good laugh in his retirement:
- Laughing at the use of waterboarding and other torture methods by our American allies in the “War on Terror”;
- Laughing at the almost certain torture and mistreatment of two Australian citizens at Guantanamo Bay (“We did precisely the right thing. I think it was important we were tough”);
- Laughing at Mamdouh Habib’s further torture as part of the US policy of outsourcing torture (known as exclusive rendition);
- Laughing at how woefully the war in Iraq is going.
It’s all part of a period Downer describes to John Lyons in The Australian today as “that pretty fascinating period of my life”.
On a slightly less-than-laughing matter, Downer alleges that the Hawke government had allowed our external spy agency ASIS to be run down to the extent that we weren’t able to detect emerging threats such as the transformation of Jemaah Islamiyah into a full-blown terror outfit. He might have a point.
Yet he also acknowledges that ASIS didn’t have any substantial intelligence on Iraq’s WMD prior to the 2003 invasion. His excuse? “Yeah, but I mean we are obviously not main intelligence gatherers in Iraq, if I can be so indiscreet as to say that”.
Get Crikey FREE to your inbox every weekday morning with the Crikey Worm.
So Mr Downer sent other people’s sons and daughters (but not his own) to fight a war based on the dubious intelligence of others agencies. At least Hawke waited for a clear UN mandate before committing Aussie troops in the 1990 invasion.
Downer barely acknowledges what ASIO’s head recently told a Senate Hearing, ie that Australia knew full well of Mamdouh Habib being sent to Egypt for torture. Instead, Downer’s response to suggestions America tortures terror suspects in secret locations was “a spirited laugh”.
Indeed, Downer’s FoxNews-type record on foreign affairs would be worth laughing at if it didn’t have such potentially serious consequences for our international reputation and national security.
Downer’s successor in the federal Seat of Mayo clearly couldn’t find much to laugh about over the weekend, having received almost as big an electoral fright as Downer himself received in the 1998 Federal Election at the hands of a certain well-known folk singer.
Leave a comment
Downer the Eternal Dufus who always reminded me of a perennial 4th former trying to impress the senior boys….to no avail of course.
He must surely rank as one of the most morally repugnant politicians in Australia’s history…like Howard, Downer was caught in history’s headlights, an artless, witless buffoon….again like the crass opportunist Howard, he is a disgrace to Australia’s political class.
I’m told that in private, he’s quite good company. That’s cold comfort to the majority of Australians he consistently offended……goodbye to the public Alexander, surely a disgrace to the Downer political legacy.
Finally, trust the ubiquitous neo-con ranter James K to attempt to reduce this discussion of Downer’s sad legacy to a comedy sketch….maybe he could regale us with some comedic constructions on the currrent fiasco that is the Israeli Government …..without the sophistry please JimmyK……
Robert Mugabe would probably join in laughing at human misery.
I refer to my comments on the previous article 12 . “What John Howard could teach the US about gun control”.
The Howard government expressed determination to abolish private ownership of guns. However they were always excessively keen to burn the public gunpowder.
When severe food shortages resulting from the terrible El Nino drought caused the rioting which brought down the Soeharto government in Indonesia the Howard government put Australian troops, including artillery, on short notice to fly out to Jakarta to “rescue” Australian citizens who might have been unable to escape the rioting.
Thank heavens they didn’t get the final call to go. That would have seen Australia making war in a neighbouring country. It could well have triggered a full blown civil war. The idea should never have entered Downer’s head or Howard’s. This was madness, and it came within a few hours of being put into operation.
Later we saw, on world TV news, that the Australian army had a big rubber duckie with which it could carry guns to sea and take over a merchant ship which was on a mission of mercy. The Tampa. Utter madness again.
In Afghanistan the Howard government got to actually burn the public gunpowder. Then we saw the tragedy of Iraq, where we were led to believe in a non existent threat.
One has to suspect that the leaders in the Howard government spent their childhood playing with toy armies fighting toy battles, and that some of them never grew up.
I suggest Kevin Charles Herbert you seek professional clinical help……seriously.
Derek & Clive –
“John Howard”
[ from the album “(Live)” (1976) ]
CLIVE:
I heard that, er, George Stit had, er, moved away from, er, the, er, the Willesden area and, er, gone up, er, round Chadwell Heath.
DEREK:
John Howard?
CLIVE:
Yeah.
DEREK:
Tch. ….. Oh my ….. Er, it’s funny you should say that ’cause you remember Enid? Who used to, erm, live across the road at number 104?
CLIVE:
Yeah, just next to 105.
DEREK:
Right.
CLIVE:
Mmm.
DEREK:
Er, she’s now working at the United Dairies down Green Lane.
CLIVE:
What, John Howard?
DEREK:
Yeah.
CLIVE:
Tch, Christ. You remember the Nolan twins?
DEREK:
Ohhh, yeah, …..
CLIVE:
Fifi? F-Fifi Nolan, …..
DEREK:
Right.
CLIVE:
….. and …..
DEREK:
And-, and Ronnie.
CLIVE:
And Ronnie Nolan, mmm.
DEREK:
Yeah.
CLIVE:
They’ve taken up darts.
DEREK:
John Howard?
CLIVE:
Yep.
DEREK:
Tch.