PM's spin sexed-up Iraq threat (Aus) - Democratic Underground

Eureka

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Mon Mar-01-04 06:40 PM
Original message

PM's spin sexed-up Iraq threat (Aus)

Edited on Mon Mar-01-04 07:16 PM by Eureka

"THE Howard Government exaggerated the threat posed by Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction program in the lead-up to the Iraq war, according to a parliamentary inquiry into Australia's handling of pre-war intelligence."

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,1658,325076,00.jpg

Well Duh, we all knew that! Despite yesterday claiming they were complete exonerated, today even the Murdoch press isn't buying it.

Oh well, more cash wasted on another review of the blindingly obvious.

Edit, laughing at the cartoon and forgot the link, D'oh:
www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,8842282%255E601,00.html

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Barrett808

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Mon Mar-01-04 07:09 PM
Response to Original message

1. Interesting- got a link? n/t

n/t

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Eureka

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Mon Mar-01-04 07:17 PM
Response to Reply #1

3. Sorry, forgot the link

I was just so excited that I got an image to appear, I forgot the link. It's all better now :-)

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dudeness

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Mon Mar-01-04 07:15 PM
Response to Original message

2. blathering alexander downer was on ABC radio this morning

trying to explain away this minor hitch..a less than plausible explaination was offered ..i hope Rudd goes hard on this issue and pushes hard for a royal commission..

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Matilda

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Mon Mar-01-04 08:14 PM
Response to Original message

4. According to the Herald, Howard cherry-picked the information he used.

Edited on Mon Mar-01-04 08:15 PM by Matilda

But I think it's pretty well-known that Howard's advisers know
better to give him information he doesn't want to hear. Then
when the shit hits the fan he can say "Nobody told me, so it's not
my fault".

There will be another enquiry - with a time-frame of three months,
for God's sake, but it will be into how the intelligence
organisations operate, and not into what Howard does with what he's
given.

The opposition shot themselves in their collective foot by
essentially backing Howard, so now they can't cry foul. If they'd
only had the guts to stand up to Howard, they could now be scoring
points.

A link to the Herald article:

http://smh.com.au/articles/2004/03/01/1078117368341.html

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futureeater

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Mon Mar-01-04 08:47 PM
Response to Original message

5. They want to report on the findings after the next election....hmmm

Now Downer's saying that they wouldn't want any inquiry to report before the Federal Election (widely expected for later this year), for fear of politicising the issue!

:puke:

That would seem to be the first time for a long time that they were not interested in politicising any issue!

My 2-cents-worth: Would it be better in general if inquiries into government action reported before an election to allow voters to make an informed choice?

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Eureka

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Mon Mar-01-04 09:08 PM
Response to Reply #5

6. Welcome to DU!

I think the answer to the third sentence is in the first.

Howard and the conga line are such habitual liars I think people might even start to consider it normal, maybe thats the strategy. Remember Howard is such a great guy he has "core" and "non-core" promises during elections :-)

Oh, if only there was some sort of other group of politicians that could bring these things up. If there were, we could call them "the opposition" and even give them a whole side of the parliamentary chamber. (Not really bagging Latham, but where the hell has the opposition been in the previous 6 or 7 years)

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T_i_B

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Tue Mar-02-04 03:12 AM
Response to Original message

7. Story from UK

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/03/02/waust02.xml&sSheet=/portal/2004/03/02/ixportal.html&secureRefresh=true&_requestid=52042

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