Comments on: Twirling, twirling, twirling towards freedom

By: The Dalai Mama

The Dalai Mama — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 13:18:28 +0000

The thing that I have not been able to figure out a ‘sensible’ (he loves that word lately,doesn’t he?)answer for, is why Howard is so dead keen on supporting an Islamic Theocracy (which is what it will fast become once the infidels have finally been driven out)? Also why the general public are so accepting of his description of same as the flowering of Western-style democracy ?
He keeps rabbiting on about how the citizens of Iraq have braved the bullets and bombs of the insurgents to vote 3 times !!! for this nascent ‘democracy’. What he doesn’t point out is that , as with Saddam previously, 95% of them voted as they were told to by their local Imam/strongman.
Really worth supporting, huh ?

By: steve

steve — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 10:29:45 +0000

Do nothing Howard is all hot air as the Man from the Democratic Party said,’ if the war in Iraq is so important to you send more troops’. 20000 or so is supposed to make some sort of a difference I am lead to believe and if they were drawn from the ranks of Liberal and National supporters, they wouldn’t even be missed. Otherwise just shut up and try to revert to mudslinging or whatever it is that you do best.

By: mick

mick — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 08:41:06 +0000

Dave, way to step out of the quantum world. I’ve wondered if that test would work in the US. I haven’t spent enough time there in the last few years to know. Oh, and I thought really hard about how to work that quote into my post but just couldn’t get it in there. I’m glad you brought it up!

By: mick

mick — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 08:38:49 +0000

suz – maybe the rhetoric wasn’t new but there were some great snappy new one-liners in there. Thankfully, touring around the news and blogs today no-one seems to have bought into his rhetoric too much.

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 05:36:51 +0000

I thought negotiating defence pacts with foreigners in secret was a no no. The public MUST be informed well beforehand so a proper debate might be had.
I remember someone or other carrying on about it 11 years ago.

By: marklatham

marklatham — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 05:32:01 +0000

Bummer that i missed howard’s speech but i didn’t miss much obviuosly.
The other day in iraq he was addressing the brave REMFs and he said that the iraquis deserved a “kind of democracy” or words to that effect.
Is that anything like a real democracy or is it similar to waht they had under sadaam?
After all people got to vote then as well.

By: Enemy Combatant

Enemy Combatant — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 05:18:22 +0000

Simply ADORE the New Season’s “Quagmire Dior”, don’t you dahling?

Regardless of how the Rodent’s cloth is woven, the threads are always manufactured in Washington D.C. Independent Foreign Policys count for naught alongside brand loyalty.

Helen Clark told BushCo to take a hike on Iraq and now she’s chowin’ down with The Imbecile at the White House. Funny old world.

By: Marilyn

Marilyn — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 03:44:22 +0000

Boy it didn’t take long for someone to come up with the lie of the people smuggling from Indonesia did it. Because it is a lie, the only people smuggling from Indonesia is by Australia.

Here is how it worked. Australia had federal police tracking refugees as they landed in Indonesia and knew they could not stay in Indonesia. They had been smuggled out of places like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and Iran because getting legal travel documents is not possible.

Once in Indonesia they hid until the agents managed to get them a boat. In the 89 cases of this type I tracked through the senate and courts not one person has gone to jail for so-called people smuggling.

The fact of the matter is that refugees are allowed to travel anywhere without documents so long as they can reach a country that is signatory to the refugee convention. By trying to force people to stay in Indonesia and even paying to set up a UNHCR office we are circumventing our law and international laws and treaties by demanding they shoulder our responsibilities for us.

Every refugee who came to Australia’s mainland from Christmas Island was flown to Australia by the government without visas, under armed guard, not allowed to go to the toilet, no food, no water, and the federal police watched them load the boats and rang to Canberra to say they would be arriving.

In the case of SIEVX we know from survivors that they were told by the UNHCR office in Jakarta to come to Australia as the Indonesians will not and cannot assess claims.

Indonesia has forced over 1,000 people back to the warzones of Iraq and Afghanistan although some 230 people are still rotting in Indonesia, unable to work, to go to school, to leave the cheap motels or have any legal rights and we are paying for it.

In short, Indonesia have not stopped any people smuggling because it never existed.

By: FDB

FDB — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 00:49:51 +0000

“The sooner we eject this douchebag from our Parliament, the better.”

Don’t blame me, I voted for Kodos.

By: Theodric

Theodric — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 00:33:53 +0000

I must have missed the new rhetoric. All I heard was the same old rhetoric, about â??staying the courseâ??.

Exactly. It was merely a cut ‘n’ paste job from all the other drivel he has been insulting us with from way before the start of the invasion. And what, in the end is it all about?

“Our practical contribution and preparedness to stand with America in Iraq is of first order importance to its current strength and vitality”

The sooner we eject this douchebag from our Parliament, the better.