Howard, you piece of [expletive]

In June this year, 26,000 US and Australian troops will take part in bombarding the ancient fragile landscape of Australia. They will storm the Great Barrier Reef, gun down "terrorists" and fire laser-guided missiles at some of the most pristine wilderness on earth. Stealth, B-1 and B-52 bombers (the latter alone each carry 30 tonnes of bombs) will finish the job, along with a naval onslaught. Underwater depth charges will explode where endangered species of turtle breed. Nuclear submarines will discharge their high-level sonar, which destroy the hearing of seals and other marine mammals.

I may be missing some bold print somewhere, but please someone tell me this is all very 'phantom' they arent actually going to do anything in the above are they?

Australians know little about this. The Australian parliament has not debated it; the media is not interested. The result of a secret treaty signed by John Howard's government with the Bush administration in 2004, it includes the establishment of a vast, new military base in Western Australia

I dont want that base here, it will make us a target for christ sakes. What do we have to insert ourselves in this bogus world wide take over..
I see us as italy, in the 1930s.. standing side by side with hitler simply because he is the powerhouse.. and we dare not challenge him

www.iraq-war.ru...

C'mon Aussies, whats going on?

Your most priceless, and awe inspirering natural beauty is about to be the scene if military WAR GAMES.
Explosions, landings, high level sonar..
Think about it, beached whales, turtles blown up, coral destroyed...
Your government wont even TELL YOU ABOUT it.
Ive just written letters to greenpeace, wilderness society and 3 news papers expressing outrage at there inability to report on this.

Sending Australians into this war is one thing, but bombing your land? using foreign troops to destroy one of natures most beautiful creations?

I've not heard any of this anywhere else and although it's all a long way away from the UK I'm surprised that there hasn't been more of a fuss on the environmental front if the story you recount is as it appears to be.

I think there are two different issues to be considered though.

Firstly, the environmental impact of the exercises you have identified sounds superficially to be absolutely shocking. Assuming, as you say, that this is actually a live ammunition exercise the damage could be immense and I really don't understand the necessity to do this in such a sensitive area when the US and Australia both have huge tracts of desert which seem far more suitable. Now that may be a very simplistic view and perhaps the desert environments are similarly fragile in some way but I don't claim to be an expert.

The second issue is the proposed US base. I understand people's reluctance to militarise parts of their country and a more or less subconscious concern about the steady growth of US influence and presence around the globe but to suggest that Australia will become and a target by accepting the base and that it is not a target now appears naive. You lost a lot of innocents in Bali and it would be terribly short sighted to believe that similar actions could not take place in Australia itself.

I'm not one of these panicky types who believes that the world is descending into chaos and armageddon but surely none of us can deny that it is becoming a more dangerous place. You may choose to debate where and how that danger is being inspired but I don't think it would be wise for Australia to isolate itself from the "Western" alliance of the Northern Hemisphere. And surely, this is what an alliance is all about, mutual support in times when one nation cannot afford to stand alone.

I have all sorts of concerns about the UK's role in Iraq but there were times not so long ago that we were very happy to have the US stand beside us when we needed friends and I have no doubt that those times will come again, if Australians believe that they either do not need those kind of friends or that they can assume they will come running when you call if you are not prepared to contribute something to the relationship than I can only believe that is a foolish and selfish assumption.

None of this is to belittle the contribution that Australia has made to other campaigns and I believe I am right in saying that you have a significant number of people in Afghanistan now in support of the UN whilst there are notable others who are failing to commit resources but in the real world I'm afraid that you have to accept that if you choose to stand alone then you have a very good chance of falling alone as well.

[edit on 2-3-2007 by timeless test]

Originally posted by Agit8dChop
C'mon Aussies, whats going on?

Think about it, beached whales, turtles blown up, coral destroyed...

It's payback time for Steve Irwin's death...

Sending Australians into this war is one thing, but bombing your land? using foreign troops to destroy one of natures most beautiful creations?

Yes this is troubling. Isn't there a lot of open space in Australia that these "games" can be held in without messing up some fragile invoronments?

Militaries often use places in their own countries to practice. It is quite hard to practice anything in a forign country as far as the military goes for some strainge reason other countries see this as an act of war. But I agree with you there has to be somewhere better to do this.

Originally posted by whatukno
It's payback time for Steve Irwin's death...

Id absolutley HATE to think howd he'd be taking this if he were still alive.
HE would of been the best PM had he gone down that path.
Just thinking of his death, brings me down, what a legend.

I agree, there's so many ATOLLS out there they could do this on,
Hell take Tasmania, or SA... why o why do we need to do this to the Great Barrier?

I havent had the privelage of seeing it yet, but jesus... what should happen should i take the time , dive it, and find some unexploded munition or something?

this is disgusting.

Originally posted by Agit8dChop
Id absolutley HATE to think howd he'd be taking this if he were still alive.
HE would of been the best PM had he gone down that path.
Just thinking of his death, brings me down, what a legend.

I know it was a traggic loss, he truly loved what he did for a living and he had no fear whatsoever.

So in Oz can you write a member of parlament or something in complaint? how about getting a petition going demanding they chainge locations to conduct the "games"?

I suppose thats it isnt it,
Ive emailed greenpace, wildernes society, West News, Aussie News, Australia Zoo.. I spose politicans are the nxt step...

Agit8dChop this is first time I've heard this and I'll be writing to members of parliment.
The Great Barrier Reef!!! They'll destroy the place.

I knew there was a good reason I didn't vote for the weasel.

Australia does have a lot of open areas mainly in the Outback.

And I agree that dropping bombs and other practice will do nothing for the environment, but this will happen no matter what government is in office.

sanc

Excellent, Thankgod..
We need to ensure as many people as possible inform as many parties nessecary over this.

Ive just emailed The Opposition Party Leader, and will be focusing on my local members of parliament shortly.

A quick email to the aboriginal communities might help too.

Im not even an Australian citizen, but ive been living in this land for over 2 decades and it sickens me that the media, and the government have kept this quiet.

Their base is in Western Australia yet they're going to bomb The Great Barrier Reef (east Australia in Queensland)? Seems a BIT far away for my liking. Anyway this is absurd if it is true.

Peace,
- Naz

If the Australian parliament has not debated it, and the media isn't interested, then what? Who can properly intervene to prohibit this?

It seems that the 2 governments have already made their minds up to what is 'acceptable mock-battling grounds', regardless of the consequences.

The consequences extend to anhilating (close to being extinct) species.

Something tells me that it won't stop there.

It's another tactic to slowly desensitize the public to accepting things without having the peoples' say-so.

This is equivelant to a 'shock-and-awe' ploy on a passive military(oxy-moron) scale.

The general public is focused on other major issues in the world, that the military/governments are banking on the 'common ordinary joe' to NOT do anything about this.

Australia and the US have conducted war games for many years now. I can remember at least 2/3 occasions in the Northern Territory when i was living up there.
Cant believe theyd actually carry this out on the Great Barrier Reef though, that would be political suicide for Howard with an election this year.

Way off topic,just as an aside do carry on..

Howard cancelled the search for planet-killer asteroids the year he won office.His wife spent the budget(an equal amount) for that year,on matching parliament house lounges with the curtains.

Meh,anyways here's the latest

"This has gone from being an esoteric statistical argument to talking about real events"

news.bbc.co.uk...

Agit8dChop wrote: " Australians know little about this. The Australian parliament has not debated it; the media is not interested.

the media is not interested ...... that's how it happens, that's how they get away with things.

The average Australian cannot know about these things unless the media exposes them.

And as Pilger rightly says, the Australian media is almost entirely Murdoch- controlled. And behind Murdoch, apparently, are fat, old zionists who invested money in exchange for control of whatever information the 'sheepies' are provided.

People accept whatever pap is served them via tv and print media. They're kept busy and anxious paying for all those consumer goods they've been encouraged to believe they 'need'. Two working parents paying for their 4-wheels while their kids are dumped as early as possible in pre-school. It takes surprisingly little time to dumb down a population.

Surf the content of Aussie tv and print 'news'. You'll find lashing helpings of shock-horror documentaries featuring Sydney Opera House sinking below the 'rising sea levels': football 'stars' being dragged in and out of court for being big-headed hoons; Liz Taylor's birthday party; diversionary beat-up of Ruddock re: his 'supping with the debil' (aka West Aussies' Bourke the Bad boy). Then we cross to yet another dimwit telling us it's going to be bonza weather over the weekend ----- all liberally interspersed with mega-decibel commericals for 'no deposit, no interest, no payment for six years' consumer goods.

After the news-for-zombies-read-by-zombies, we segge to the 'intellectual' content: 'Current Affairs' consisting of yet another 'expose' of single mothers, warring football stars, shonky car deals from Japan.

When you feed kids lots of sugar, they don't take kindly to seeing vegetables on their plate. Aussies have been persuaded (and it didn't take much persuading) that the really important things in life are a new car, plasma tv, budget jaunts to Gold Coast and Bali and a couple of designer-clothes wearing kids with improbable names such as Kidney and Cruiser.

Aussies buy newspapers in order to get their hands on the 'free' CDs and 'green' shopping bags. They watch tv to grab an eyeful of tit and Brazilian wax job. They push the (in any case worthless) front pages of manufactured-news-and-opinion to the kerb and feast enthusiastically upon the glossy 'lifestyle' magazines in the centre. They're more interested in what Nicole Kidman is or is not supposed to be doing than they are in 'vegetable' type news regarding real life, real suffering, real outrages being committed, real incursions on their lifestyle by those who know them all too well and intend to lead them right to the end of the path to ruin.

We're so easily distracted now, aren't we: " Look -- the Grammy's are on tv tonight ! Oh, look --- it's the Academy Awards, gee, there's Kate Blanchette ! "

" Oh, hell ----- the US has built another base here and they're shooting up the reef. Look --- the poor little turtles are being blown into shreds ! "

"Oh don't tell me that. That's horrible. It's too depressing. Look, Hardly Normal has a special on next week: everything's 20% off and no payments for ten years. And they're staying open until midnight all week. Wanna go look? We could drop the kids off at your mum's place."

What WOULD cause outrage in the Aussie breast would be if David Jones or Lottery Scratchies or Target 'sales' were being closed-down by the US. THEN the crowds would erupt.

And Howard and Murdoch and Cheyney and their zionist backers all KNOW that. 'Parliament' (aka lazy, useless morons being paid to do bugger all) isn't going to rock the boat that feeds it and let's it rort its travel allowances. Gee, be reasonable mate.

When the world is a baked wasteland, cockroaches and Hardly Normal will still exist. And Rupert Murdoch will probably still be around too, leaking formaldahyde all over the place, still wearing those high roll-necks to hide the sags and wrinkles and still producing further offspring after his 204th birthday. God is in Heaven and all is well.

What are you all talking about? I don't see the OP? timeless is the first post I see, but timeless didn't start the thread?

Originally posted by aylyan
Howard cancelled the search for planet-killer asteroids the year he won office.His wife spent the budget(an equal amount) for that year,on matching parliament house lounges with the curtains.

One last minor detail.The search in the southern hemisphere consists of Australia,Argentina,and South Africa.The latter 2 are powerhouses,right on the cutting edge of cosmological research..

Originally posted by Jessicamsa
What are you all talking about? I don't see the OP? timeless is the first post I see, but timeless didn't start the thread?

No I didn't, there are two posts by Agit8dChop before my reply.

Either it was a major typo... or none of this will happen.

The B-1 lancer Bomber and B-52 Stratofortress bombers... are not stealth bombers. And these laser-guided missiles... are they fired from an airplane (most likely), or are they fired from the ground (highly unlikely)?

The guy (who wrote the article, I didn't read the full article, the quote was enough to give me doubt) is worried about sonar discharges... hmm, what will happen if one of those depth charges (accidentilly) hit a nuclear powered submarine? I think radiation is more dangerous (long-term) than sonar discharges(short-term).

Isn't a secret treaty... well... secret?

If this battle happens... damn.

Just my 2c

[edit on 2-3-2007 by The_unraveller]

I think the environmental issues are a bit extreme. This will strengthen US and AUS relations. A military base means we have your back.

When I was looking at going into the marines my staff sgt. said that had he to choose who he would take to war with him it would be the aussies. He said theyre crazy..and reliable. They dont F around.