In his 3rd annual Green Oration delivered in Hobart on March 23, Greens leader Bob Brown shows just how out of depth he can be on foreign policy issues:
"Nine years ago, after the invasion of Iraq which president George Bush ordered to promote democracy over tyranny, I proposed to the Senate a means of expanding democracy without invasion." (Global democracy alone will save us from ourselves, The Age, 31/3/12)
Bush did not - repeat not - invade Iraq to promote democracy.
In his most important speech in the lead-up to the war, delivered in Cincinnati, Ohio, on October 7, 2002, democracy nowhere gets a mention.
Bush's declared reasons for the war revolved solely around Iraq's "homocidal dictator" and his much-hyped "weapons of mass destruction." Oh, and al-Qa'ida, of course:
"The attacks of September the 11th showed our country that vast oceans no longer protect us from danger. Before that tragic date, we had only hints of al Qaeda's plans and designs. Today in Iraq, we see a threat whose outlines are more clearly defined, and whose consequences could be far more deadly." (The Iraq Papers, ed. by Ehrenberg et al, 2010, pp 85-91)
Democracy promotion was trotted out as a rationale only when the fabled WMDs could not be found.
Did any Greens member present at the above speech take Brown to task for this appalling display of ignorance, I wonder?
For those who want to know why Bush really went to war against Iraq, see my 22/12/08 post Absent-Minded Professors Inadvertently Set Iraq Ablaze.
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2 comments:
Clive Palmer looks less and less of a fool every time Brown and his mates open their mouths.
Well spotted. Another absolute shocker. Who vets his speeches on foreign affairs? No wonder they don't let callers know.
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