Howard throws himself in the water
Where the prime minister's address merely repeats the dominoes of mass distraction stuff that Blair and Bush are putting out he's barely worth reading. The only element in his thinking that is different from theirs is the effort to maintain the US alliance at any cost.

Obviously Canada has fewer fears of the US abandoning them but seriously, is even the Bush administration about to withdraw from the Asia-pacific region? No doubt Howard is sincere in his views. The argument he fails to make is that the US would break the alliance if we did not join the war against Iraq.

Howard's address to the nation:

There's also another reason and that is our close security alliance with the United States. The Americans have helped us in the past and the United States is very important to Australia's long-term security.

It is critical that we maintain the involvement of the United States in our own region where at present there are real concerns about the dangerous behaviour of North Korea.

The relationship between our two countries will grow more rather than less important as the years go by.

A key element of our close friendship with the United States and indeed with the British is our full and intimate sharing of intelligence material.

In the difficult fight against the new menace of international terrorism there is nothing more crucial than timely and accurate intelligence. This is a priceless component of our relationship with our two very close allies.

There is nothing comparable to be found in any other relationship - nothing more relevant indeed to the challenges of the contemporary world.

I know that some people are saying that what we have done makes it more likely that terrorists will attack Australia.

Contrast this with the position of Canada. All the US alliance argument really does is ask another question and that is why should Australia always subordinate our national interests to US interests? Especially when (as in this case) it is by no means clear the Bush administration is advancing US interests at all.

Prime Minister of Canada Jean Chr�tien:

"I want to set out the position of the Government of Canada. We believe that Iraq must fully abide by the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council. We have always made clear that Canada would require the approval of the Security Council if we were to participate in a military campaign.

Over the last few weeks the Security Council has been unable to agree on a new resolution authorizing military action.

Canada worked very hard to find a compromise to bridge the gap in the Security Council. Unfortunately we were not successful.

If military action proceeds without a new resolution of the Security Council, Canada will not participate.

We have ships in the area as part of our participation in the struggle against terrorism. Our ships will continue to perform their important mission against terrorism."

We could have stayed in the sanctions operation. We did not need to join this foolish and immoral war in the name of our great and powerful friend.