Prime Minister Tony Abbott is expressing a willingness to have
elements of the Australian Defence Force join with the United States in another
intervention in Iraq – notwithstanding that neither the shape of that
intervention nor its objective is known.
I would argue that the fact that we are considering going
back into Iraq makes it all the more obvious that we need to learn the lessons
from the previous invasion, the disastrous nature of which is not only almost
universally acknowledged but demonstrated by the fact that some claim a need to
go back in.
There should be no further resort to armed force by
Australia until there has been a genuinely independent inquiry (in which the Royal
Commissioners are appointed by a bipartisan process). If the Government
believes that it should engage in force before the Royal Commission reports, it
should be allowed to do so with the support of the House of Representatives
PROVIDED that the new use of force is referred to the same Royal Commission and
independent legal advice has been received that the use of force would be legal
and that the government will accept the compulsory jurisdiction of the ICJ in
any suit brought by any state questioning the legality of this new use of
force.
If we do not learn from the mistakes of the past we will
repeat them again - first as tragedy, then as farce.
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