Writing on the wall.

Strange things are happening about the war in Iraq. (And I am not just referring to the fact that this week the petrol cycle didn't happen...Petrol didn't really go up on Wednesday as it usually does. Even though thge local BP did put its price up but when the other stations didn't it came down again, they tried this twice then finally gave up. Small victory for the coinsumer. Though, as the local wag said on radio, there is something being said about changing times when we are glad that petrol is "only" $1.09) any way back to the war...

Mr Beazley, a former Defence Minister and usually pro-war, has now oibviously been convinced that the only distinction between Labor and Liberal that will matter at the next election is who is for the war and who is against. Clearly then the Laborites have got over their fear that they will be seen as weak on terrorism (a view the Government is trying to paint of the Labor party) and have realised that no one is going to win this argument in Australia. So the distinction is now being drawn fairly sharply.

Mr Downer went into flight, and patriotic flight at that.....never has any Australian leader suggested anything so cowardly as leaving our Allies to stand alone.

The PM, seems to be taking stock and though he is mouthing the standrad "establishment of democracy" justification for this pig of a war...is the writing beginning to appear on the wall.
As we see military chiefs questioning the wars veracity, and Iraqi PM saying Australia will be out by 2007/2008...the ground seems to be shifting.
It will only take a number of Australians to be killed and the popular tide wil turn once and for all.
In all this we realise that these decisions are not lightly taken, they are not intelligently taken. All sorts of questions influence decisions which have little or no hearing on right or wrong; but rather on how it will affect the ballot box.
This seems sad to me when we are involved in something that has such enormous human cost.