Gerard Jackson
BrookesNews.Com
Monday 8 December 2003

John Valder, a prominent member of Australia's conservative Liberal Party, called America a war criminal and the liberation of Iraq "the greatest act of aggression by any Western nation since the days of Hitler's Germany", neatly putting Bush, Blair and Howard on par with Adolf Hitler.

The Sydney Morning Herald, aka The Saddam Times, never tires of lying about Bush and the liberation of Iraq. This time it wheeled in John Valder, described as an elder of the Liberal Party, to do the dirty deed.

The self-righteous Valder started with the false statement that "Iraq has been in growing turmoil almost ever since with Iraqi citizens and US soldiers being killed every day, including two who had their throats actually slit just last week!"

Growing in turmoil? A little simple arithmetic reveals the sickening conservative estimate that Saddam murdered 34 men, women and children every single day of the week for 20 years — that's more than 1 an hour, Mr Valder. These poor devils, including the children, were not simply shot or hanged: many of them were murdered in the most cruel fashion.

It's true that soldiers are dying but Valder, and his few Liberal Party supporters, ignores several vital facts: to begin with, they are dying in defence of liberty, something that will never by said of Valder and his media friends. And it is their ultimate sacrifice that has saved the lives of thousands of innocent Iraqis and made democracy a very real possibility for that hapless country.

Since allied forces launched Operation Iron Hammer several weeks ago more than 1100 Iraqi terrorists have been captured or killed, not including the ones who were killed or captured at the recent battle of Samarra. This 1100 represents about 20 per cent of the estimated number of active terrorists in the Ba'athist triangle. (Incidentally, the report that two American soldiers had their throats cut turned out to be false).

One should note that opponents of the liberation of Iraq always try to bolster their gloomy prognostications by focussing on allied casualties to the exclusion of terrorist losses. And the loathsome Valder is no exception

Valder sneers at the liberation by stating that "As a result, many Iraqi families are still trying to survive without adequate, if any, supplies of water, food and electric power. So much for their new found freedom." What does this former Liberal Party bagman think conditions were like before the liberation?

Nasser Hasan, former member of the Iraqi national chess team and a poet, welcomed the liberation, categorically stating: "Even if those weapons [WMDs] turn out to be an excuse for America to invade Iraq, I say fine. Whatever it took to finish Saddam." It's pretty plain, h owever, that the Bush-hating likes of Valder, and there are a few of them in the Liberal Party, are totally indifferent to the feelings of the great majority of Iraqis.

That the allies have been restoring essential services was deliberately ignored by Valder. For example, pre-war electricity generation was 4,000 megawatts of electricity per hour against the demand for 6,000 megawatts, which will very soon be met. By the end of October more than 1,600 schools had been reconstructed and fully equipped, even down to light switches.

All of the countries hospitals are open, including 1200 clinics, and have been reequipped. Iraq's universities, colleges, technical colleges and virtually of its secondary and primary schools are also open. The country now has a free and open media with about 200 newspapers and magazines ranging across the political spectrum.

But to the supercilious anti-American Valder this "new found freedom" is something to sneer at. But the 30,000 Iraqi farmers who signed and presented a letter of appreciation to the United States certainly don't share Valder's views. Neither do the majority of Iraqis.

The independent Oxford Research Group and the Oxford University Sociology Department just conducted a large-scale survey of Iraqi public opinion which found that there was overwhelming support for the overthrow of Hussein's regime. A large majority support a democratic form of government. What's more, 70 per cent of Iraqis reject the idea that the state should enforce religion.

But according to the well-informed Valder Iraqi is not only a complete mess it's a US "crime"! Liberating 23 million people from a murderous despot is now a crime, or so says the humanitarian Mr Valder, on par with "the greatest act of aggression by any Western nation since the days of Hitler's Germany". Yep, that's right folks: the liberation of Iraq is the equivalent of the Nazi attack on Poland.

Not content with calling the US and its allies war criminals he also accused the US of maltreating prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and violating their rights. Valder is either a complete idiot or just a plain liar. These prisoners, who do not even qualify as lawful prisoners of war, have been treated as if they were. There have been no breaches of law or human rights.

Valder would have it that there was absolutely no justification for the liberation of Iraq. Evan Bayh, a leading Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, disagrees, put the case for the war against Saddam very well when he said:

"Look, there were multiple reasons to remove Saddam Hussein, not the least of which was his butchering of his own people--that's the kind of thing that most progressives used to care about. We were going to have to deal with him militarily at some time in the future. The possibility — even if people thought it unlikely — that he would use weapons of mass death or provide them to terrorists was just too great a risk."

Senator Bayh, unlike Valder, is a man with strong moral moorings, a sound grasp of the danger Hussein posed and a sturdy sense of patriotism.

Valder's claim that Australian support for the US has resulted in our "international credibility ... being seriously undermined" is just plain hogwash for which he could not provide a shred of evidence. He did, however, approvingly refer to the pro-Saddam London demonstration that had been organised by a coalition of Marxist-Leninists and Jew-hating Islamo-fascists. Any person genuinely concerned with liberty and the welfare of the Iraqi people would certainly be seriously disturbed by the activities of this crowd of totalitarians. Not our learned Mr Valder, the same little chappie whose idea of a free media is to licence journalists.

I don't pretend to understand what it is that Valder craves. But whoever writes this kind of malevolent drivel is clearly suffering a grave affliction of the soul. Moreover, what the hell is a creep like him doing in the Liberal Party?

See Leading liberal betrays Prime Minister Howard and backs Saddam's 'peace activists'

Gerard Jackson is also Brookes' economics editor