War: not in my name

Does the Rudd Government intend to adopt the recommendations made by Amnesty International on pages 23 and 24 of its report? If not, why not?

War in Afghanistan

As if our involvement in Iraq was not, by Prime Minister Rudd’s own admission, bad enough, it seems that we will continue to “up the ante” in Afghanistan. For what? For whom? For how long? If another million people die will the cost of continuing be too high?

In mid 2008 the population of Afghanistan was more than 32 million people. This year Prime Minister Rudd said "... We must learn from Australia's experience in the lead-up to going to war with Iraq and not repeat the same mistakes in the future". Is that not precisely what we are doing by continuing our military involvement?

The Howard government claiming to act on a “feeling” that something is the right thing to do is very different from the Rudd Government doing something “knowing” it is the wrong thing to do. In view of those matters would you please confirm:

(a) What strategies have you put, or are you putting, in place in Afghanistan to avoid the mistakes of Iraq?

(b) Is the Rudd Government committed to ensuring that civilian deaths in Afghanistan are and will be accurately recorded and reported to all Australian citizens?

(c) Have our intelligence sources looked at who is selling weapons to the “the terrorists”? Who is?

(d) Has the Rudd Government done a thorough and proper analysis of the difficulties faced by the British during the First, Second and Third Anglo-Afghan Wars and the Russian loss of the Soviet War in Afghanistan (1978-1988)? Please see link to the National Security Archive.

(e) Is the Rudd Government aware of the recent warning given by Britain's most senior military commander in Afghanistan, Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith, that the war against the Taliban cannot be won?

(f) In September Admiral Mike Mullen, the top military officer at the Pentagon, told a Congressional committee that US and international forces are not winning the war in Afghanistan and that “... We cannot kill our way to victory”. Does the Rudd Government agree with this view? If not, why? If so, why Australia's continued military involvement?

(g) What benchmarks have been set for victory or defeat in Afghanistan? How will the Rudd Government and we Australians know when victory has been achieved? Will it be the raising of a single white flag? Will it be the complete withdrawal of Afghani people from their own country? Will it be the handing over of the keys to Afghanistan’s natural resources? Will it be the death of another million people or more? Or, is the plan for us to simply wait until we are told that our services are no longer required? As importantly, what is the benchmark for failure?

Conclusion

Whatever happened to Australia having not just acceptable, but respected, standards, Mr Smith? Australia once had some international respect as a country that did the right thing, but are we not now seen as doing no more than lip service to morality? To reason? To common sense? To the insistence on basic freedoms? To human and economic fairness?