The Editor,
Sydney Morning Herald
Dear Editor,
Yes, we would fully support the inquiry and consider it is
long overdue.
We would add that future Prime Ministers will not be allowed
to send troops overseas unless approve by both houses.
Yours sincerely,
Eddie Hwang
President
Unity Party WA
Phone/Fax: 61893681884
Environmental friendly - save the
trees - use email.
UPWA is the only political
party that calls a spade a spade.
Iraq war widow demands
inquiry
Date - April 27, 2013
Tom McIlroy
Reporter at The
Canberra Times
·
Australia's first service widow of the Iraq war has called for an
inquiry into the nation's involvement in the 10-year conflict.
Kellie Merritt says Australian and American political leaders
''exaggerated, cherry-picked and manipulated'' intelligence to strengthen the
case for invading Iraq in 2003.
Ms Merritt's husband, Flight Lieutenant Paul Pardoel, a former
member of the RAAF, died along with nine others when their British RAF Hercules
transport plane was shot down by insurgents over Iraq's Tigris River eight
years ago.
Restating her calls for an inquiry into Australia's involvement in
the invasion and subsequent war, Ms Merritt said lessons should be learnt from
the death of her husband and other military personnel and civilians killed in
Iraq.
The attack that killed Flight
Lieutenant Pardoel and nine British servicemen came as the first elections for
the Iraqi National Assembly took place on January 30, 2005.
Ms Merritt accuses former officials including US vice-president
Dick Cheney, UK prime minister Tony Blair and Australian foreign minister
Alexander Downer of having ''dodged and reshaped the principles, rules and
norms that limit and define the justifications for waging war''.
She said there was growing momentum for an official inquiry into
Australia's involvement in the war and that former prime minister John Howard
should be called to give extensive evidence in public hearings.
''I think for those of us who have lost so much, the redeeming
aspects of an inquiry would be that their deaths would not be in vain,'' she
said.
''There would be lessons learnt and information identified,
particularly as countries such as the United States and Australia continue
managing conflicts in the Middle East and on a global scale.''
The mother of three called for a wide-ranging inquiry to ''bear
witness'' to the human cost of the war.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/iraq-war-widow-demands-inquiry-20130426-2ik74.html#ixzz2RcQoG7C2
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