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David Revelman
Melbourne: Australia

Saturday 15 Feb. 2003

Starting last night tens of thousands of Australians rallied to protest war against Saddam's bloodstained regime. In the name of peace, demonstrators will be gathering in some 400 cities in scores of countries from the US to Europe, Australia and Asia, to rail against the US, Britain and John Howard, Australia's Prime Minister.

The Sydney rally will be addressed by the fanatically anti-American John Pilger. Labor luminary Laurie Brereton and Green Senator Bob Brown will also address the crowd. The Melbourne rally was addressed by Democrat Senator Natasha Stott Despoja, Greens senator Bob Brown, Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne Peter Watson and union leader Martin Kingham and other well informed progressives. Just to make sure that Prime Minister Howard gets the message, Trades Hall Council's leftwing secretary Leigh Hubbard has hinted industrial action in the event of war to liberate Iraq from Saddam.

Although those addressing the rallies will have spoken loftily of peace and negotiations they are really driven by a loathing for America.. None of the speakers have ever organised events condemning Saddam's cruelty. None of them have ever rallied against his virtual extermination of the March Arabs or his genocidal campaign against the Kurds.

Most of them make for strange bedfellows for peace. Pilger and Hubbard, for example supported the communist conquest of much of South East Asia. Pilger has even publicly lied about what happened in Cambodia. Now this rabid anti-American will be demanding action to keep the monstrous Saddam in power. And he will have the likes of the Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne giving him moral support, albeit from a distance.

Where was the Archbishop of Melbourne and his fellow moral poseurs when Saddam's victims cried out for moral support? Where were the rallies? Where were the outraged denunciations? Apparently he was saving his moral outrage for President Bush?

These rallies are being organised for one reason alone — to condemn the United States and embarrass the Australian government. In doing this the demonstrators are not only encouraging Saddam to try and hold on to power they are spurring Kim Jong-il to continue in his threats against South Korea and the US.

In other words, they are making themselves party to their crimes. If this is "peace at any cost" — leave me out.

Source: BrookesNews