Kim Wilkie (Swan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support my colleagues the shadow ministers for foreign affairs and defence in this important debate. At the outset, I would like to say that the Australian Labor Party supports the service men and women who are serving our country in Iraq. They are the pride of Australia and do us all proud each and every day. In response to the member for Indi, who is running out of the chamber: in 2005 I along with other members of this parliament had the opportunity to visit our service personnel who are stationed in the Iraq theatre. I was honoured to have the chance to talk to many of them, and I conveyed to them, as did others, the support of all Australians. Those men and women deserve our enduring respect and admiration.

However, as my colleagues have said, we should not have embarked on this war in Iraq. The Australian government is deluding itself and trying to dupe all Australians when it continues to argue the case for war. It is hard to find even vociferous right-wing commentators in the United States and the United Kingdom who still believe that the stated reasons for the war remain valid. It is four years ago today since the invasion of Iraq officially began. Over that time 3,209 American personnel have been killed and many more injured. Along with this 6,294 Iraqi security force personnel have been killed, along with countless civilians. And the violence is growing.

Many reports and editorials have been written in the newspapers over the last few days about this anniversary. One of the most poignant was in the Guardian. Anas Altikriti wrote about the war from an Iraqi point of view. He said in the article:

Millions of Iraqis, indeed the vast majority of the population (myself included), regarded the Ba’athist regime as one of the most brutal and evil dictatorships in the world. We dreamt of seeing the back of it for decades while the US—

and Britain and other Western countries—

... provided it with unlimited military, economic and political support in return for ... commercial and financial gains. Now we find the country and its people facing times much worse than they ever were, even in those dark days.

So what have we achieved over the last four years? We have a situation in Iraq of civil war. We have compromised the war on terror in Afghanistan because we diverted crucial attention away from this, the main game against terror, because of an ideological and obsequious deference to the United States’s agenda on Iraq.

Put simply, we did not finish the job in Afghanistan and we now stand to pay a high price for this failure of judgement. We are risking the lives of our own service men and women in a dangerous war zone for a reason which has changed many times since the conflict began. This has been going on for four long years. While our men and women were fighting the fight the Howard government was giving Saddam Hussein’s government kickbacks in the form of payments under the oil for food program. In other words, Australia funded the very bullets that Saddam was using against us and other coalition troops.

At this point, I would like to refer members to an excellent speech given in this House by the member for Brand in a censure motion against the government last year. I would like to quote from his speech with regard to what Saddam Hussein did with the kickbacks he received from the Australian Wheat Board:

Saddam, as a result of our actions, was able to maintain the Scud missile launchers for which the SAS were asked to risk their lives to destroy. He was able to maintain the Iraqi soldiers in machine-gun-mounted four-wheel drives that the SAS fought running battles with early in the war. He was able to maintain a good proportion of the 50 aircraft that the Australian Special Forces Group captured at Al Asad air base west of Baghdad. He was able to maintain the sea mines which RAN boarding parties risked their lives to neutralise ... He was able to maintain the tanks, trucks, artillery bunkers and logistical support which RAAF Hornet pilots risked their lives to destroy in strike and close air support missions.

The government has no credibility left whatsoever. It turned a blind eye to the illegal activities of the AWB, which actively supported our enemies. It took us to a war we should never have been in. It risked and still risks the lives of our troops—good and decent Australian men and women—for its flawed foreign policy in Iraq. Let us not forget the reason the government gave originally for our military commitment to Iraq: weapons of mass destruction. As it turned out, we know there were no such weapons.

Unfortunately arrogance will not do the government any good. When you look back, the Prime Minister originally said that regime change in Iraq was not an appropriate reason to commit Australian troops in Iraq. I wonder what he is doing about Zimbabwe, if that was the case for going to war. The Australian government has run out of excuses. It is discredited. It is playing with the lives of young men and women of Australia. The PM referred to terrorism against Afghanistan versus terrorism in Iraq. The reality is that the terror was based in Afghanistan, not Iraq. Remember September 11. We went to Afghanistan on the basis of the ANZUS alliance, and we need to be there. Iraq is primarily facing a challenge from the internal insurgency and our presence, many commentators state, is exacerbating the problem. It is time for us to realise that we need to be out of Iraq and out now. (Time expired)

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