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Adjournment Speech

Date:
12th May

Subject:
Iraqi Prisoner Abuse

"Two days ago I criticised the Howard Government's lack of action in responding to recent evidence of human rights abuses by American troops on Iraqi prisoners. As an Australian Democrat I am a true believer in liberal democracy and a member of the International Commission of Jurists, and I find any deprivation of human rights abhorrent.

These disgraceful acts committed by American troops will unfortunately reflect badly on Australia as well. The West has claimed moral superiority—no torture, equality of men, democracy, and a lack of nepotism. Yet these qualities are exactly what has been displayed.

The Americans treat war as a video game, which depersonalises the enemy. Having won the military phase, they are surprised when people are willing to die as martyrs for their country—the only defence they have. They use suicide techniques, to which there are no easy answers. So suicide bombing is called indiscriminate terrorism, but sending missiles from planes is not. Weapons of mass destruction are not permitted for some countries, but they are naturally a part of the American weaponry. Chemical weapons are terrible, but depleted uranium, used for its mass in the short term in piercing tanks, remains radioactive, causing leukaemia for about a million years.

The moral advantage of the West is lost in all of this. We have no credibility, and we are creating a legacy of hatred that will put us and our children at risk. On 11 May 2004 the Australian reported on an agreement governing the transfer of Iraqi prisoners, signed by Australia, America and Britain, which stated that Australia has a legal obligation to appoint liaison officers to ensure the welfare of prisoners that Australian troops hand over to coalition partners. An article on the News Ltd web site on 11 May stated that Amnesty International had sent to the Federal Government a report on 18 March that outlined examples of a prisoner who was " beaten, given electric shocks, suspended by his legs, had his penis tied, and subjected to sleep deprivation". Yet the foreign Minister claims that Australia has no legal obligation to prisoners captured by highly professional Australian military personal.

How can the Howard Government continue to justify this military campaign as a liberation of the Iraqi people from a brutal dictatorship after our coalition partners now appear to be committing the same types of brutalities as the Baath regime once performed? Without the consent of the Federal Parliament, John Howard made Australia an active participant in the invasion of Iraq. The pictures of these human rights violations will only serve to stoke the fires of anti-western sentiment in the Middle East. John Howard's complete and unquestioning support of the Bush Administration has placed all Australians, particularly expatriots, at greater risk of terrorist attack, and has resulted in Australia being perceived as part of the "big bad west" in the eyes of extremists in the Arab world, whereas once we were treated as respected trading partners.

The Federal Democrats successfully passed a motion in the Senate last night calling on the Federal Government to, among other things, "immediately cease negotiations with the United States for an Article 98 Agreement under the Rome Statute, requiring Australia not to surrender US citizens suspected of crimes against humanity, to the International Criminal Court for prosecution".

It is bad that Australia, which I believe has signed the protocol for the International Criminal Court, does not wish to come under its jurisdiction or, at least, to have the Americans under its jurisdiction. An article in the Australian on 10 May 2004 by Chilean writer Ariel Dorfman entitled "The price we pay for paradise is torture" refers to Dostoevsky's novel The Brothers Karamazov, in which Alyosha Karamazov is approached by his brother, Ivan, with an unbearable proposition: in order to bring men eternal happiness, it was essential and inevitable to torture to death one tiny creature, one small child. What did he do? Of course, Alyosha refused to torture the child. I do not have time to read the article, but it goes on to talk about the notion that if we just torture people we can get the information about terrorists and we can all live in peace. But once one sees liberators as oppressors, people will fight with all means within their power, and then the torture becomes justified as a means to find the terrorists.

The Howard Government is calling for billions of taxpayers' dollars to help finance a rogue State. A missile defence shield will not protect us from a dirty bomb. It is absurd to spend $400 billion on a missile shield when one can be attacked by Stanley knives. If there is anything more absurd than this it is giving a blank cheque to pay for it, which is what Australia is doing. I shudder to think what Arab citizens of Australia must think. We need a sensible foreign policy; we cannot simply and blindly follow the United States of America."