More than 120 countries have defied President Donald Trump and voted in favour of a United Nations General Assembly resolution calling for the United States to drop its recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

• A total of 128 countries backed the resolution, nine voted against and 35 abstained
• Australia is among the countries that abstained from voting
• The resolution states that Mr Trump's bid has "no legal effect" and is "null and void"
  

Mr Trump had threatened to cut off financial aid to countries that voted in favour, but a total of 128 countries backed the resolution, 35 abstained, and nine voted against.

However, the US leader's threat appeared to have some impact, with more countries abstaining — including Australia — and rejecting the resolution than usually associated with Palestinian-related resolutions.

Read more:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-22/un-votes-to-reject-trump-push-to-m...

Australia the wimp... No spine. No idea. Not wanting to upset the few friends we have left — while not wanting to betray the hypocritical world diplomatic morality of the past 100 years... 

The political news of three Sundays ago was overwhelmingly about same-sex marriage, and no wonder.

Finally, after almost two-dozen failed attempts, the senate had voted for its legalisation. The next day, debate was to begin in the house. Expectations were high.

But in all the excitement about marriage equality, another political milestone went unremarked. It also was the 10th anniversary of the fall of John Howard’s government. On December  3, 2007, Australia’s second-longest-serving prime minister was replaced by Kevin Rudd, having lost the election and his seat.

It was under Howard, of course, that the marriage act was changed to specifically prohibit same-sex unions. The fact that marriage equality finally passed the parliament almost exactly a decade after his ousting was more than a coincidence, however. It was a reminder of the extent to which John Howard’s prime ministership still haunts Australian politics.

As Paul Keating said, when you change the government, you change the country. But it can be very hard to change back again, as the marriage equality issue clearly showed.

Back in 2004, less than an hour elapsed between Howard’s announcement that he intended to prohibit same-sex marriage and the passage of legislation to that end through the house. Reversing it took 11 years and 23 bills – the first in 2006. It produced a long, internecine war in Coalition ranks, as well as a postal survey costing more than $100 million, hundreds of hours of parliamentary debate, and vast hurt to those whose relationships were under judgement.

EXAMINE ALMOST ANY CONTEMPORARY POLITICAL PROBLEM, FROM AUSTRALIA’S GROWING ECONOMIC INEQUALITY TO THE DECLINING PERFORMANCE OF OUR SCHOOL STUDENTS RELATIVE TO THE REST OF THE WORLD, TO OUR DYING CORAL REEFS, AND YOU WILL FIND THE FINGERPRINTS OF JOHN WINSTON HOWARD.

At least that issue now is fixed. But there is so much more damage from the Howard years yet to be undone. And much that may never be undone. Examine almost any contemporary political problem, from Australia’s growing economic inequality to the declining performance of our school students relative to the rest of the world, to our dying coral reefs, and you will find the fingerprints of John Winston Howard.

Howard was the most right-wing prime minister we ever had, at least until Tony Abbott. Unlike Abbott, as ineffectual in office as Billy McMahon, the other usual nominee for worst-ever PM, Howard was highly effectual but in a regressive sense.

Let’s get down to examples, starting with the economy.

Saul Eslake, former big bank economist, has memorised a long list of the worst economic decisions of the past 20 years, and almost all the items on it are down to Howard and his treasurer, Peter Costello.

Eslake recites, rapid fire: “The halving of the capital gains tax rate. The senior Australians tax offset, which is if you are over 65 you pay less tax on a given income than if you are under 65. The introduction of tax-free superannuation for people over 60. The one-year window in which people could deposit up to $1 million into super. Decision to allow SMSF [self-managed super funds] to borrow to speculate in property. First home owner grants to buy established houses…”

All these increased inequality by skewing benefits to the wealthy, and older Australians, and by pushing up housing prices. To them he adds a raft of non-means-tested welfare payments, “notably the private health insurance rebate. And the baby bonus, which was appalling policy”.

He says: “We used to have a social security system that said if you, through no fault of your own, weren’t capable of providing for yourself and your dependants a decent standard of living, the state would help you out.

Read more:

https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2017/12/23/its-all-john-howards-fault/15139476005689

Malcolm Turnbull has encouraged Australians to do something to brighten the Christmas of those enduring a difficult time.

In his Christmas message, the Prime Minister said while it was a "wonderous time of celebration and reflection" for many, it was a challenging period for others.

"Whatever you're doing at Christmas this year, please remember those who need our love and support now more than any other time; those who are homeless, those who are alone or lonely and those for whom Christmas is not a joyous celebration," he said.

"Let's be there for each other, let's go out of our way to help out a stranger, let us do what we can to make it a special time of year for everyone."

Mr Turnbull, who said he will be spending Christmas Day with his wife, children and grandchildren, also paid tribute to the emergency services workers and security agency personnel "whom serve us all year around, all day long".

In a separate message, the Prime Minister thanked members of the Defence Forces, praising their commitment and sacrifice and noting that it was "especially tough" serving away from family and loved ones at Christmas.

read more:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-24/malcolm-turnbull-bill-shorten-rele...

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Australia is set to become one of the world’s largest arms exporters under a controversial plan of the Turnbull government’s.

The prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, has unveiled a new “defence export strategy” setting out the policy and strategy to make Australia one of the world’s top 10 weapons exporters within the next decade.

Hailing it a job-creating plan for local manufacturers, the Coalition says Australia only sells around $1.5bn to $2.5bn in “defence exports” a year and it wants the value of those exports to increase significantly.

“It is an ambitious, positive plan to boost Australian industry, increase investment, and create more jobs for Australian businesses,” Turnbull said in a statement. 

“A strong, exporting defence industry in Australia will provide greater certainty of investment, support high-end manufacturing jobs and support the capability of the Australian defence force.”

The controversial plan has been anticipated since mid-2017 when Christopher Pyne, the defence industry minister, said he wanted to start selling far more Australian-made weapons overseas.

At the time, Tim Costello, the World Vision Australia chief advocate, attacked the plan for exporting death, saying the government had cut humanitarian aid which saved lives while simultaneously discussing the merits of becoming a major weapons manufacturer and exporter.

“The government says this is an export and investment opportunity, but we would be exporting death and profiting from bloodshed,” Costello said last year. 

“There is only one purpose in making a weapon and that is to kill someone with it. Do we really want that to be what people think of when they see the brand ‘made in Australia’?”

Read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/28/australia-unveils-plan-to-...

This country is going to the rabid mad dogs... Go away Malcolm, you are a disgrace... 

Newly-elected Liberal senator and retired senior Army officer Jim Molan is defending his decision to share anti-Muslim videos posted by far-right UK group Britain First on Facebook.

• Jim Molan was sworn in as a senator this morning
• He shared Britain First posts on his Facebook page last year
• The posts did not reflect his personal opinion, a spokesman said
  

In March last year Mr Molan, who was sworn in as a senator this morning, shared posts from the group on his personal, public Facebook page.

One of the Britain First videos purports to show Muslim men attacking a police car in France, while the other purports to show Muslim men harassing and assaulting young women in France and the Netherlands.

The second video has been discredited by online fact-checkers.

Today Senator Molan said he did not remember sharing the videos, but upon watching them again, was shocked by the violence within them.

read more: 

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-05/liberal-senator-jim-molan-shares-a...

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...

Coalition senators rallied behind Senator Molan.

Queensland senator Barry O'Sullivan said Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young had accused Senator Molan of being a white supremacist.

"She's done it twice, it's a despicable thing to say about a fellow senator," he said.

Senator Hanson-Young was unrepentant.

"I said that the senator was supporting white supremacists. That is what he did when he shared that Facebook post," she said.

"That is what he's being asked to apologise for, that is what he should be ashamed of."

Read more:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-06/greens-attack-new-liberal-senator-...

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Greens MP Adam Bandt has labelled new Senator Jim Molan a “coward” and says he should be prosecuted for his service in the Iraq war.

The attack came after Senator Molan shared two videos of Muslim violence in Europe in March 2017.

Speaking on Sky News, Mr. Bandt let loose with his disgraceful comments against one of Australia’s most distinguished servicemen.

“When you share white supremacists videos and justify it by saying ‘I’m doing it to stimulate debate’, you’re a coward, you’re a complete coward.

“I tell you what if there was a proper inquiry into the war in Iraq in Australia… I think you’d find Jim Molan would probably be up for prosecution rather than praise.”

Read more:

https://www.2gb.com/greens-mp-calls-retired-major-general-jim-molan-a-co...

Yes, Jim Molan is famous for being a leading accessory in the destruction of Fallujah, during the illegal war on Saddam... praised by him "in his humble opinion" as the "most impressive operation in accordance with the laws of arm conflict...."

Is this the same war demolition described by a "non-embedded" journalist :

More recently Aaron Glantz, a senior reporter at Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting, who was an unembedded journalist during the April 2004 siege of Fallujah (a battle in which Australia was involved), gave this account in response to Donald Trump’s appointment of James "Mad Dog" Mattis as Defence Secretary:

This was a battle that I covered as an unembedded journalist, where the U.S. Marine Corps killed so many people, so many civilians, that the municipal soccer stadium of that city had to be turned into a graveyard. U.S. Marines there shot at ambulances. They shot at aid workers. They cordoned off the city and prevented civilians from fleeing. Some marines posed for trophy photos with the people that they killed. I remember walking through the city shortly after the Marines pulled out, and there were rotting bodies all over the streets, because during the actual siege, U.S. Marine snipers would shoot at anyone who was outside, so people were afraid to go and bury the dead. Shopping centres were destroyed. And this gets to an important issue of disproportionality …. This whole assault was launched because of the killing of four Blackwater security contractors. And, you know, in response, James Mattis levelled the city.

This correlates with the account provided by Christopher Doran, postdoctoral research associate in political economy at Macquarie University.

In his 2008 article ‘The reality of Australia’s collateral damage in Iraq’, Christopher Doran writes:

General [Jim] Molan’s excerpt is a highly sanitised version of what actually occurred under his command. Molan’s account suggests that the attack on Fallujah, codenamed Operation Fury, was little more than a few surgical missile strikes which unfortunately and only occasionally resulted in civilian deaths. 

He conveniently omits the fact that an estimated 30,000 to 50,000 civilians still remained in Fallujah when the attack began. Citizens had been instructed to evacuate the city, population 250,000, before bombing began in October 2004, but any and all men aged 15 to 45 were prohibited from leaving. Many family members understandably chose to stay with their fathers and brothers. Once the bombing began, all exits out of the city were sealed off. 

On October 16, The Washington Post reported that 'electricity and water were cut off to the city just as a fresh wave of [bombing] strikes began Thursday night, an action that U.S. forces also took at the start of assaults on Najaf and Samarra.' The Red Cross and other aid agencies were also denied access to deliver the most basic of humanitarian aid - water, food, and emergency medical supplies to the civilian population. 

The situation was so severe that the United Nation's Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Jean Ziegler, stated that the Coalition had used 'hunger and deprivation of water as a weapon of war against the civilian population [in] flagrant violation' of the Geneva Conventions. Specifically Article 14, which clearly states that cutting off water, electricity, and denying access to humanitarian aid is considered to be a war crime.

Read more:

http://yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/32992

Hitler would have been proud... But Jim defends himself as supported by the entire Liberal SS cabinet and radio jocks fascists:

Senator Molan joined Ray Hadley to defend himself from Mr Bandt’s comments.

“It’s very, very silly isn’t it. I have no idea of the legal aspects of it but I will ask.”

The retired Major General also slammed allegations he committed war crimes in Iraq.

“I was more accountable for my actions on a day by day, minute by minute basis in Iraq than people like him have ever been in their lives.

“This is not the first time the Greens have gone for me.

“They seem to have a belief that anyone who goes to war is a war criminal.

“They don’t understand the International Criminal Court, they don’t understand war, they don’t understand anything to do with these subjects.”

Read more:

https://www.2gb.com/greens-mp-calls-retired-major-general-jim-molan-a-co...

Is Fallujah, the place where the US army "tested" phosphorus ammos?...

In April 2004, during the First Battle of Fallujah, Darrin Mortenson of California's North County Times reported that white phosphorus was used as an incendiary weapon. Embedded with the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, Mortenson described a Marine mortar team using a mixture of white phosphorus and high explosives to shell a cluster of buildings where insurgents had been spotted throughout the week.[12]

In November 2004, during the Second Battle of Fallujah, Washington Post reporters embedded with Task Force 2-2, Regimental Combat Team 7, wrote on November 9, 2004 that "Some artillery guns fired white phosphorus(WP) rounds that create a screen of fire that cannot be extinguished with water."[13] Insurgents reported being attacked with a substance that melted their skin, a reaction consistent with white phosphorus burns.[13]

read more: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_phosphorus_munitions

Meanwhile, while not understanding the good functionment of the armies:

A series of investigations into alleged sexual crimes committed by US marines in and around Darwin have been quietly dropped by Australian and American authorities, ABC News can reveal.

That decision raises questions about whether Australia and the US are doing enough to investigate claims of sex crimes, and echoes decades of international concern about the cover-up of those crimes by US military personnel serving abroad.

Read more:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-15/investigations-dropped-into-darwin...

Before mentioning what Dutton had to say about Greens MP Adam Bandt that has labelled new Senator Jim Molan a “coward” and said Molan should be prosecuted for his service in the Iraq war — then Bandt apologised for telling the truth — we need to spend some time with Cory Berbardi. He sort of said on Sky news that women should not serve at the front, mostly because they pee differently to men. Having got this off my chest now to Dutton's invectives... Actually we need to go first to Crossbench senator David Leyonhjelm of the guns and fishooing party who wants bonking officially blessed in Kambra. So here Dutton:

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton described Senator Molan as a "hero" who'd put his life on the line while people like Mr Bandt were "back home burning flags".

"He wouldn't have the guts or the capacity or the ability to serve his country like Jim Molan did," Mr Dutton told 2GB radio.

"Adam Bandt is a horrible individual. He demonstrates it on a daily basis in parliament and frankly this just exemplifies it again in his pathetic comments about Jim Molan this week."

Senator Molan attracted widespread criticism after re-posting anti-Islam videos by far-right group Britain First on his Facebook page last year.

Read more:

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/molan-refuses-to-accept-bandt-apology

Please note that the war on Iraq was ILLEGAL and based on LIES. Please read:

http://www.yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/11276

and: 

time to jump at the deep end, into hot water...

PR operatives for Generalissimo Jim “Not a Racist Bone in his Body” Molan have also been busy. 

As if the prime minister’s endorsement of the unelected senator was not stirring enough, Grouper Greg Sheridan from The Catholic Boys Daily dug up a photo of the “great Australian” decked out in his jungle greens saving the life of Bishop Carlos Belo in Dili. 

Grouper’s sidekick, Little Chris Kenny, confirmed to the Q&A audience on Monday that Molan is a “great Australian” and that the nasty videos he posted on Facebook “were factual events” – never mind they were sourced from a neo-Nazi group. To clear up any doubt, Kenny Boy added: “I’m against fascism.” 

Maddy Devine was at it back in 2006, detailing Molan’s triumphs as the saviour of Fallujah, and complaining that those unhappy with the deteriorating conditions in Iraq “reveal an addiction to Schadenfreude so profound it has alienated them from moral reality”. 

The generalissimo was the chief of coalition operations in Iraq in 2004-05, commanding attacks on Fallujah, Najaf and Samara. Former senior diplomat and Canberra insider John Menadue wrote on his blog on Wednesday that the mainstream media in Australia was asleep about what was happening in Fallujah. 

Fortunately, overseas reporters were quite awake, revealing a coalition assault on the city’s only hospital:

“Patients and hospital employees were rushed out of rooms by armed soldiers and ordered to sit or lie on the floor while troops tied their hands behind their backs.” – The New York Times   

“US armed forces killed scores of patients in an attack on a Fallujah health centre and have deprived civilians of medical care, food and water.” – The Nation 

“There are dead women and children lying on the streets. People are getting weaker from hunger.” – BBC 

“The horrific conditions for those who remained in the city have begun to emerge.” – The Guardian  

Peter Phillips at Project Censored estimated that as of December 2004 at least 6000 Iraqi civilians in Fallujah had been killed and one-third of the city had been destroyed with the help of barrel bombs. 

It looked like a case of destroying the city to save it and the coalition forces were successful in that mission. However, Molan and his troops have been singularly unsuccessful in their campaign to invade the Liberal Party of New South Wales and clean out the wet-smacks.  

While we do not suggest that Jim Molan is in any way responsible for the disaster of Fallujah, or Iraq at large, there’s clearly an urgent need to install more boat stoppers, Colonel Blimps and Capt’n Mainwarings in the parliamentary party.

Read more:

https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/2018/02/17/gadfly-holy-owned-subsidi...

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Senator Jim Molan has withdrawn from a scheduled appearance on the ABC's Q&A program, saying he can no longer defend the Liberals after being placed in an unwinnable position on its New South Wales Senate ticket.

The former Army major general was bumped down the ticket to third spot at a meeting of Liberals on Saturday, behind regional powerbroker Hollie Hughes and former acting Liberal Party director Andrew Bragg.

The Liberals and the Nationals in New South Wales run a joint Senate ticket, and the Nationals hold the third spot on the ballot, meaning Senator Molan has been relegated to the generally unwinnable fourth position.

In a text to the ABC on Saturday evening, Senator Molan voiced his concern.

"I may not come on the show on Monday," he said.

"Just to make you aware. I cannot bring myself to defend my party at the moment. 

"I will confirm tomorrow."

This morning, Senator Molan pulled out, saying again he, "would find it hard to defend my party".

Senator Molan's surprise demotion follows a short career in Federal Parliament.

He was sworn in as a senator for New South Wales in February this year, in the wake of the dual-citizenship fiasco which cut a swathe through Canberra.

The seat he took up originally belonged to former deputy Nationals leader Fiona Nash, who was disqualified by the High Court for being a British citizen by descent.

Read more:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-25/jim-molan-says-he-cannot-defend-p...

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Jim Molan interview on Channel 7 last night was a shocking shocker... He went on and on as to why Trump removing US troops out of Syria was like the end of the world... And the other warmongers, the war opinionators, the war profiteers and the weapon manufacturers are all up in arms...

-----------

New York: A few months into Donald Trump's first year as President it was reported that a faction of administration officials known as the "axis of adults" was working to tame his unorthodox instincts.

The key figures were Secretary of Defence Jim Mattis, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Homeland Secretary John Kelly - and their aim was to mould Trump into a conventional Republican president.

Well, as conventional as possible given the raw material they were working with.

Their mission involved stopping Trump from pursuing two of the policies that made him such an unusual Republican candidate in 2016: an aversion to free trade and a less interventionist approach to overseas military engagements.

Read more:

https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/trump-s-syria-retreat-shows-h...

Strangely enough, this shows the mad man Trump has a maturity beyond that of his predecessors. War is for wimps and devious thieves.

The next war, according to experts, will be fought not with battleships, not by artillery, not with rifles and not with machine guns. It will be fought with deadly chemicals and gases. Secretly each nation is studying and perfecting newer and ghastlier means of annihilating its foes wholesale. Yes, ships will continue to be built, for the shipbuilders must make their profits. And guns still will be manufactured and powder and rifles will be made, for the munitions makers must make their huge profits. And the soldiers, of course, must wear uniforms, for the manufacturer must make their war profits too. But victory or defeat will be determined by the skill and ingenuity of our scientists. If we put them to work making poison gas and more and more fiendish mechanical and explosive instruments of destruction, they will have no time for the constructive job of building greater prosperity for all peoples. By putting them to this useful job, we can all make more money out of peace than we can out of war -- even the munitions makers.

So...I say,

TO HELL WITH WAR!

Read more:

https://ratical.org/ratville/CAH/warisaracket.pdf

Retired Army major general Jim Molan is set to return to Federal Parliament after being chosen to fill the spot vacated by Liberal Senator Arthur Sinodinos. 

• Jim Molan's pre-selection bid had the backing of Scott Morrison and Peter Dutton
• He lost his Senate seat in May after being relegated to an unwinnable place on the Coalition's NSW ticket
• He previously served as chief of operations for the Coalition forces in Iraq

Mr Molan defeated Insurance Council of Australia executive Richard Shields for the position at a meeting in Sydney today. 

His pre-selection comes six months after he lost his Senate seat at the May election, having been relegated to an unwinnable place on the Coalition's New South Wales ticket. 

Mr Molan angered some within his own party and the Nationals when his supporters ran a "below the line" campaign to try to get him re-elected. 

However his pre-selection bid had the backing of high-profile Liberal figures including Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton. 

"He served his country in uniform and he's gone on very proudly to represent us in the Senate and I think he stands up for the vast majority of Australians," Mr Dutton told 2GB last week.

Read more:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-11-10/jim-molan-to-return-to-the-senate...

Read from top !!!!!... Sinodinos was smelly enough...

FREE ASSANGE !!!!!!

NSW Liberal senator Jim Molan has announced he is going on sick leave after being diagnosed with "an aggressive form of cancer". 

• Senator Molan says he has "many reasons" to be positive despite the shock diagnosis
• After a 40-year career in the Army, he has been involved in politics since 2012
• Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Labor politicians were among those to wish Senator Molan well

Over the next week, the 70-year-old will undergo a series of medical tests to confirm his prognosis and begin treatment.

In a message to colleagues, Senator Molan said the diagnosis last week had come as a "shock" but declared, "I have many reasons to be positive."

"I am receiving the best possible care from my clinicians and have the love, support and prayers of my family," Senator Molan added.

"I have never been afraid to fight the battles that need fighting and this is no exception."

pic.twitter.com/0w7Ykc4ir9

Senator Molan is the father of Channel Nine personality, Erin Molan.

He spent four decades in the Australian Army, reaching the rank of Major-General, and was awarded for his service in Indonesia and East Timor. He went on to hold a senior operations role during the Iraq war.

He retired in 2008 and the senator first became involved in politics in 2012 and 2013, when he helped establish the Abbott government's policy for stopping asylum seeker boats – Operation Sovereign Borders – a controversial plan that included turning boats back to Indonesia.

Read more:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-05/liberal-senator-jim-molan-diagnosed-with-cancer/100049610

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We hope Jim Molan, senator, gets well and earns a good retirement from politics. 

assange

Many prominent doctors and scientists contend that DU contamination is also connected to the recent emergence of diseases that were not previously seen in Iraq, such as new illnesses in the kidney, lungs, and liver, as well as total immune system collapse. DU contamination may also be connected to the steep rise in leukaemia, renal, and anaemia cases, especially among children, being reported throughout many Iraqi governorates.

There has also been a dramatic jump in miscarriages and premature births among Iraqi women, particularly in areas where heavy US military operations occurred, such as Fallujah.

Official Iraqi government statistics show that, prior to the outbreak of the First Gulf War in 1991, the rate of cancer cases in Iraq was 40 out of 100,000 people. By 1995, it had increased to 800 out of 100,000 people, and, by 2005, it had doubled to at least 1,600 out of 100,000 people. Current estimates show the increasing trend continuing.

As shocking as these statistics are, due to a lack of adequate documentation, research, and reporting of cases, the actual rate of cancer and other diseases is likely to be much higher than even these figures suggest.

“Cancer statistics are hard to come by, since only 50 per cent of the healthcare in Iraq is public,” Dr Salah Haddad of the Iraqi Society for Health Administration and Promotion told Al Jazeera. “The other half of our healthcare is provided by the private sector, and that sector is deficient in their reporting of statistics. Hence, all of our statistics in Iraq must be multiplied by two. Any official numbers are likely only half of the real number.”

Toxic environments

Dr Haddad believes there is a direct correlation between increasing cancer rates and the amount of bombings carried out by US forces in particular areas.

“My colleagues and I have all noticed an increase in Fallujah of congenital malformations, sterility, and infertility,” he said. “In Fallujah, we have the problem of toxics introduced by American bombardments and the weapons they used, like DU.”

During 2004, the US military carried out two massive military sieges of the city of Fallujah, using large quantities of DU ammunition, as well as white phosphorous.

Read more:

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2013/3/15/iraq-wars-legacy-of-cancer

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FREE JULIAN ASSANGE NOW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The late Jim Molan will be remembered for many things. Few will remember him for the widespread violence by Coalition troops under Molan’s command during the brutal assault on Fallujah and other Sunni cities during the illegal occupation of Iraq in late 2004.

The Australian media continues to fail us badly over its coverage of the Middle East wars, terrorism and the continuing disaster of ISIS. That failure began with the invasion of Iraq. Unlike important overseas media, no Australian media has admitted or apologised for its failure in the coverage of the Iraq war and its consequences. As is often the case, our media was embedded in the ADF in support of Coalition policy. The political class sticks together.

News Corp media has been most at fault.

A repost from Pearls and Irritations Feb 14, 2018

There is probably no more obvious example of how News Corp works than the way it supported George Bush’s invasion of Iraq, assisted by Australia. Before the invasion, during it and in the years since neither News Corp nor any other main stream media in Australia has ever confessed to error, to its unprofessionalism. Such media organisations as the Washington Post, the New York Times and the Economist have all apologised for their mistaken assessments and their encouragement of the invasion of Iraq, and its terrible consequences, particularly for the Iraqi people, the region and even the lives of the invaders. We are less safe in Australia because our troops are over there.

Just consider what News Corp told us about the Iraq war – and it is best to start at the top with Rupert Murdoch. He said in 2003 ‘We can’t back down now where you hand over the whole of the Middle East to Saddam. … I think Bush is acting very morally, very correctly. … The greatest thing to come of this to the world economy, if you could put it that way, would be $US20 a barrel for oil.’ (Bulletin, 12 February 2003).

He added a few weeks later ‘We worry about what people think about us too much in this country, [the US]. We have an inferiority complex it seems. I think what’s important is that the world respects us … The US troops would soon be welcomed as liberators.’ (Associated Press, 3 April 2003).

When things fell into chaos, Murdoch said ‘Australia had no choice but to see the job through. The situation in Iraq has been misrepresented. … There’s tremendous progress in Iraq. All the kids are back at school, 10% more than when Saddam Hussein was there. There’s 100% more fresh water. … Most of Iraq is doing extremely well.’ (ABC radio Sydney, 7 April 2004).

In an editorial The Australian mocked the critics of the war whom it described as ‘the coalition of the whining’. It added “Never underestimate the power of ideology and myth-in this case anti-Americanism-to trump reality” Heaping scorn on its critics, such as the Labor Party, the foreign editor of The Australian, Greg Sheridan said that ‘George W Bush was really a modern Winston Churchill’ (The Australian, 15 August 2002). He added later that ‘The Blair dossier should transform the debate over the Iraqi threat. Either Tony Blair is a monstrous liar or Saddam Hussein is. Take your pick.’ In The Australian on 26 April 2003, Sheridan really let himself go. ‘The eagle is soaring. The bald eagle of American power is aloft, high above the humble earth and everything it sees is splendid. For as it soars and sweeps it sees victory, power, and opportunity.’ More than three months after the invasion Sheridan still thought ‘WMD doubts are ludicrous.’ He said that hawkish US official John Bolton “had provided him, almost as an afterthought, with the sensational evidence that would prove the existence of Saddam’s WMD’.

On September 9, 2002, Andrew Bolt wrote ‘Let me spell it out slowly for [Labor politicians], (Crean and Rudd). Saddam. Won’t. Let. In. Inspectors.’ Two weeks later when inspectors were admitted, Bolt didn’t think it worthwhile apologising. He thought the opponents of the war were ‘in effect pro-terrorist’. Following the 2005 Iraqi election Bolt said “At last democracy has come to Iraq. And yet our sneering “elite” insist it would have been better to leave the murderous Saddam alone. This is what we who backed the liberation of Iraq dreamed of”. Some liberation!

Rod Tiffen put the News Corps performance on Iraq very succinctly in his book. ‘The result was that the US and its allies mounted a pre-emptive war against Iraq and their stated reasons for doing so proved to be a fiction. The gravity of this has rarely been apparent in the Murdoch press. (Tiffen page 148).

There have also been recent reports and debate in the Senate about the role of Australian General Jim Molan in Iraq. He was seconded in 2004 from the ADF and served as the Coalition’s Chief of Operations for a year. He commanded the attacks on Fallujah (Operation Fury), Najaf and Samara.

Whilst our mainstream media was asleep or deliberately turned a blind eye with the encouragement of ADF public relations about what was happening in Iraq and Fallujah, overseas media reported extensively.

On October 16 2004, the Washington Post reported that “electricity and water were cut off to the city just as a fresh wave of [bombing] strikes began Thursday night, an action that US forces also took at the start of assaults on Najaf and Samarra”. The Red Cross and other aid agencies were also denied access to deliver the most basic of humanitarian aid – water, food, and emergency medical supplies to the civilian population.

On November 7, a New York Times front page story detailed how the Coalition’s ground campaign was launched by seizing Fallujah’s only hospital: “Patients and hospital employees were rushed out of the rooms by armed soldiers and ordered to sit or lie on the floor while troops tied their hands behind their backs.” The story also revealed the motive for attacking the hospital: “The offensive also shut down what officers said was a propaganda weapon for the militants: Fallujah General Hospital with its stream of reports of civilian casualties”. The city’s two medical clinics were also bombed and destroyed.

In a November 2005 editorial denouncing its use, the New York Times described white phosphorous, “Packed into an artillery shell, it explodes over a battlefield in a white glare that can illuminate an enemy’s positions. It also rains balls of flaming chemicals, which cling to anything they touch and burn until their oxygen supply is cut off. They can burn for hours inside a human body.” News Corp was outraged when Saddam Hussein used phosphorous against the Kurds but was silent when the US used it in Fallujah.

In early November 2004, alongside the New York Times reports that Fallujah’s main hospital had been attacked, the Nation magazine referred to “reports that US armed forces killed scores of patients in an attack on a Fallujah health centre and have deprived civilians of medical care, food and water.”

The BBC reported on 11 November 2004 “Without water and electricity, we feel completely cut off from every one else … there are dead women and children lying on the streets. People are getting weaker from hunger. Many are dying from their injuries because there is no medical help left in the city whatsoever“.

On 14 November 2004, the Guardian reported “The horrific conditions for those who remained in the city have begun to emerge in the last 24 hours as it becomes clear that US military claims of ‘precision’ targeting of insurgent positions were false. … The city has been without power or water for days.”

A further allegation supported by BBC pictures on 14 November 2004 is that coalition forces prevented the distribution of aid supplies to civilians.

The Independent referred to an Italian documentary which claimed that Iraqi civilians, including women and children, had died of burns caused by white phosphorous during the assault on Fallujah.

According to Ali Fadhil writing in the Guardian of 12 January 2005, “The US military destroyed Fallujah but simply spread the fighters out around the country. They also increased the chance of civil war in Iraq by using their new national guard of Shias to suppress Sunnis’.

The Australian media is amongst the least trusted institutions in Australia. That is not surprising and the so called foreign affairs experts in our media are a reason for that lack of trust.

Tony Abbott established a Royal Commission to pursue Kevin Rudd over pink batts. How much more do we need a Royal Commission to examine our invasion of Iraq on the basis of false information? That Royal Commission should also examine the performance of our media in the coverage of events leading to our sending troops and the subsequent disasters that followed in Iraq, including Fallujah.

Included below is a link to an article by Chris Doran. If correct, the claims are an indictment on Australia’s military presence back then in Fallujah.  What now passes for legitimate military action when civilians are so exposed?

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https://johnmenadue.com/the-media-the-iraq-war-and-fallujah/

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