That Way Lie Demons

Australians declare the War In Iraq a failure:

The Lowy Institute survey finds 84 per cent of Australians polled do not believe the war in Iraq has reduced the threat of terrorism.

The poll shows 91 per cent of those surveyed believe the war has damaged the United States' reputation in the Muslim world.

It also finds the majority of people surveyed do not believe the war will lead to the spread of democracy in the Middle East.

A total of 85 per cent of respondents believe the experience in Iraq should make nations more cautious about using military force to deal with rogue states.

Elsewhere, Antony Loewenstein reviews 51st State by Dennis Altman:

The US/Australian alliance is not simply about silver-service dinners at the White House.

The role of the media in shaping our views of the United States is central in the ongoing propaganda war being conducted by Canberra and Washington...

The “internationalist world” is now upon us, and the United States is but one model we can look at. Seeing beyond our own borders to a more connected world is surely the way forward, whether our governments think this way or not.

And from the comments at Surfdom, here's a confronting view of Australia today:

[I]f the Australian public has elected this hypocritical, venal, divisive, and chronically addicted liar to be our PM not once, not twice, not thrice, but four times on-the-trot, then 66% of our own people thus admire and respect politicians who are:

1. hypocrites
2. venal (corrupt, or taking bribes)
3. divisive
4. chronically (incurable) addicted liars (those who will not, or cannot tell the truth)

Is our Labor opposition so bad that we re-elect slimy black snakes who pay massive bribes to our most avowed enemy? Is Beazley so unable to run this country that we need someone at the helm who rejoices in illegally and immorally inavading other innocent peoples’ countries?

Have we all sunk that low?

Listen to me: Australia today is rotten to the core. TO THE CORE ! A dreadful black cloud has descended over our very thinking, our ideals, our morals.

None of our militarist adventures, except for our defence against attack in WW2, will ever be justified in the world court of eventual history. Hindsight will cringe and puke on us. Our great-grandkids will delete us from their files.

Meanwhile, we still think that blasting the Bejaysus out of Turkey at Galipoli was an heroic victory, and march accordingly every Anzac Day.

But it was a catastrophic cock-up of the most monumental proportions. Yet another illegal Australian invasion. Like Vietnam. Like Korea. Like Afghanistan. Like Iraq. When will it ever stop?

Australia currently holds the world record for invading other countries. Our bloodlust extends to almost every continent. Our troops were firing away in African uprisings before we roared into the Boer War of 1899. We sent troops to the Americal Civil War, and once shot Maoris in a New Zealand uprising.

In the 20th century, Australia was first over the line in volunteering for almost every skirmish that took place. A disgraceful record. The only troops that landed on Iraqi shores BEFORE American Rangers did in this current Iraq invasion, were Australia’s!

Astonishing. Even GWB himself was amazed at the dazzling speed of his Deputy Sheriff’s pre-invaders.

This nation’s history stinks. I’m not a traitor, I’m just a realist. I read thousands of books and all this info is there, available for every one - just join a library.

Today, Australia is under the iron grip of a vicious civilian dictatorship, aligned to an axis of evil that respects no international or domestic laws, and which possesses no morals or semblance of normality. If I’m not right, then tell me how we could happily bribe Saddam Hussein with 100’s of millions of dollars, then lie that we didn’t, or we forgot.

We caused all our own so-called terrorist problems, and now blame the rest of the world for them, instead of glancing into our own guilty backyard.

Meanwhile, could it possibly be that our Australian morals barely diverge from those of Saddam, who, after all, has never invaded one-tenth of the countries that we have?

Who are we? Where do we come from? Where are we going?