Harry Quick (Franklin, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I know you seize every opportunity to extol the virtues of our armed services. I compliment the role that our troops are playing overseas but, as a pacifist, I am really worried as I raise the first issue—that is, what is happening in Iraq and Afghanistan. Despite the manifestations and the media coverage from both Iraq and Afghanistan, I think it has gone off the radar. Today as I looked at one of the websites it highlighted to me that in 32 days time we will be celebrating the third anniversary of the second war in Iraq. On 19 March 2003 most of us were watching with shock and awe as America declared war on Iraq. There were the coalition forces, Britain and Australia, and we saw the firepower and result of that war.

It is interesting to note that in the war, which started on 19 March 2003, 137 Americans died—a very small number. It was obvious that, due to the way in which the war was waged, Iraq suffered enormous casualties and the Americans only 137 deaths. One remembers on 1 May 2003 George Bush flying out on the aircraft carrier dressed as a pilot, wearing a helmet and a Mae West, saying, ‘Mission accomplished,’ and a big banner flying. Since ‘mission accomplished’, 2,128 Americans have died. A total of 137 died in the war and, since then, 2,128 have died.

On 13 December 2003, Saddam Hussein was captured. Since then, 1,798 Americans have died. The handover to the provisional government was on 29 June 2004 and since then 1,399 Americans have died. The election was held on 31 January 2005 and since then  829 Americans have died. From all reports, any mention by the media—TV or print—about the coverage of American bodies being returned home has been virtually censored. It is all done at the Air Force base. When the first bodies came back we saw the typical way in which American soldiers are returned, with the escort, slope arms, coffins carried by representatives of the armed services, draped in the American flag, the flag folded, and the mourning relatives.

After a while, as I have said, the toll started to mount: to 2,265 since the war began. The toll since the war was theoretically all over is 2,128. It has all become too embarrassing. The sad thing is that 204 deaths have been from coalition troops. Even sadder, as one realises that a couple of thousand deaths is pretty serious, is that there have been 16,549 Americans wounded. A report on the war on terror states that ‘one in every 10 soldiers evacuated to the army’s biggest military hospital in Europe was sent there for mental problems’. We have heard about Agent Orange and stress related illness from the Vietnam War, and from the first Iraqi war about depleted uranium shells and the like. We are creating a monster.

Over a thousand soldiers have been evacuated to Europe because of mental problems. Yet none of this makes it into the media. All we hear is that we have democracy in Iraq, we are trying Saddam Hussein, through the farce that is the court trial over there, and that things are going well and everyone is pulling out. We hear that the Japanese are going and it looks like our Australian contingent of 400 or 500 troops are coming home because they are no longer needed to support the Japanese, and then we are off to Afghanistan.

There is a perception in Australia that, ‘We’ve captured Saddam. We’ve had elections. Okay, there’s a bit of a hassle between the Shiah and the Sunni, but the Kurds up north are all happy because they’ve got their own little part of the Iraqi homeland.’ But if you look behind the scenes you find something else. Here is some of the war news for Monday of this week, and it is really sad. In Baghdad the former minister of electricity escaped an assassination attempt when a roadside bomb went off near his convoy. Three of his bodyguards and a woman passing nearby were wounded. In Ramadi a police colonel and a brigadier were killed on Sunday by gunmen in two different incidents. In Baquba gunmen killed four people driving in their car. One worked for the ruling Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq. In another incident two policemen were killed and one was wounded when a roadside bomb went off near their patrol. In Hilla two policemen were killed and another wounded. In another area a policeman was killed and two others wounded. And it so goes on, a daily occurrence. Yet there is a perception in Australia, in America and in Britain that everything is rosy, that they are training the Iraqi troops to take over and that everything is going to be fine. The news also states:

Last week, the Pentagon said it will ask Congress to almost triple the anti-IED budget, from $1.2 billion to $3.3 billion. The new money is for quicker rollout of more vehicles with V-shaped hulls to deflect blasts and a further expansion of the most reliable jamming technology

$US 3.3 billion. We do not hear anything about this; we are being brainwashed into accepting that everything is fine. We hear talk about an exit strategy from Iraq, but it is all too hard. And now, as I say, we are in Afghanistan. It is interesting to note that this report also says:

There are now lethal similarities in the methods used by the insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq. Nato commanders acknowledge that terrorist techniques are being imported from Iraq to Afghanistan and Islamist fighters are entering the country in ever-increasing numbers from Pakistan.

The place where this is most evident is the province of Helmand, where most of the British forces will be deployed, and where a resurgent Taliban and their al-Qaida allies have killed almost 100 US and Afghan troops in the past few months.

That 100 is ‘the total number lost by British troops in the Iraq war’. But we do not hear any of this. All we hear is the good news.

The sad thing is that 25 deaths have occurred this month, and these are just the statistics from the American and coalition forces. As usual, it is the Iraqis who are paying the highest price. Thank God, among our troops, we have lost one soldier in Afghanistan. I do not think we have lost anybody in Iraq, but I might be wrong. At least one is a small number.

When we peel the onion even further, we find some wonderful things about the Coalition Provisional Authority, the body set up to rule Iraq before the elections, headed by President Bush’s favourite man, Paul Bremmer. It is interesting to look at some of the legal orders that he issued by decree. I will cite one which I think is a classic. It says:

Within a few days of the order being passed, mass produced chicken legs were dumped on the Iraqi economy by US companies, forcing the market price of chicken down to 71p a kilogram, below the cheapest price that Iraqi producers could sustain. Those chicken legs were surplus to the US market because the average American prefers breast meat. Before the invasion, those chicken legs would most likely have been sold as pet food.

Order 39 permitted full foreign ownership of a wide range of state owned assets. The intention is that over 200 state owned enterprises—including electricity, telecommunications and the pharmaceutical industry—will be sold off, permitting 100 percent foreign ownership of banks, mines and factories. The decree allowed these firms to move their profits out of the country.

The biggest scandal involved reconstruction contracts. In one period between 2003 and 2004, more than 80 percent of prime contracts were given to US firms, with the remainder split between British, Australian, Italian, Israeli, Jordanian and Iraqi firms. One source estimates the total received by Iraqi firms during the CPA’s rule at around 2 percent.

So who is making all the money? I raise these issues because, as I said, we do not hear about them. They are all below the radar. When the Minister for Defence or the Minister for Foreign Affairs are asked questions in the House at question time, democracy reigns, everything is under control, and because, thank God, we have not suffered any casualties in Iraq we are told we should, ‘Be alarmed, but don’t be concerned.’

On a totally different note, I raise another issue that is close to my heart—aged care and the role of nurses and carers in that industry. Nurses, both enrolled and registered, and the carers involved in the nursing homes in my electorate of Franklin and in the electorate of Denison—our borders abut—

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