A call for war powers reform in Australia

Australians for War Powers Reform emerged out of the Campaign for an Iraq War Inquiry, established in 2012. That campaign called for an independent inquiry into the reasons behind Australia’s participation in the invasion of Iraq in 2003, to draw out what lessons can be learned for the future.

Australians for War Powers Reform takes these important questions of the original campaign forward into a renewed national examination of Australia’s war powers.

31 May 2019 ANDREW FARRAN ‘America First’: Strategic Choices
Hasn’t Australia had enough of war and talk of war and armed conflict which has been a constant since Korea, with what gain and at what cost? Drawn into these military conflicts by zealous defence/intelligence/security operatives, their funded think tanks, and susceptible politicians, we have in effect been in the continuous service of the US and its military campaigns on and off for decades. Our involvement and support has cost lives and incurred much expense which in retrospect has achieved very little in the national interest. Afghanistan is a prize example – with areas gained and lost to no recognisable advantage over a period of some 17 years. In the Middle East we have involved ourselves in conflicts that are essentially religious or involve national transitions within areas artificially created as states by colonial powers going back to and before the First World War. The US’s antagonism towards Iran over the nuclear agreement negotiated with the UN Security Council, Germany and the EU (JCPOA), which has been strictly adhered to by Iran but now rejected by the US, is a masquerade intended to provoke conflict there in concert with Saudi Arabia, Israel and some UAE states. If we were to follow the US in this, as we have done in the past, these out of area states would be our allies. Would that be acceptable to the Australian public? Is that what ANZUS is about?