REPRIEVE? OR FURTHER REGRESSION?

All the pundits say that Prime Minister Howard has escaped unscathed from the Iraqi war. He is, they say, in the box-seat, with his polls sky-high, a demoralised and ineffectual Opposition squabbling about a leadership for which there are only one or two mediocre contenders, and all the necessary ingredients for an early election if he wants it. He has announced he is close to making a decision about his own future - whether to retire while so far ahead, handing over the reins to Peter Costello, or whether to ride on to one more inevitable electoral victory, so that he can be ranked with the most successful of Australia's Prime Ministers. And we can be certain that Coalition party coffers will be full to overflowing whenever Howard decides to go. From all of which, we are expected to believe, Australia is in a healthy position, ready to bask in the benefits of a stable and glowing future..
The propaganda is pervasive, None but the gad-flies can argue that all is not well - and they can be ignored, or ridiculed for flying in the face of reality.

I have just been re-reading C.H. Douglas's Social Credit, first printed in 1924, a mere six years after the Great War. In this prescient work Douglas foreshadowed the gradual descent of the human condition he saw as inevitable if the fingers of power were not loosened from the tiller of money. He looked accurately past wars and depressions to a moment of final conflict between the refinement of process in the economic system and the need for paid activity to justify existence for the majority of humanity. He foresaw the corruption of power on a scale never envisaged before, as the scramble for incomes tore in pieces every cherished principle of justice and mercy. This period, he concluded, would carry us to a final critical moment, in which we either descended into a new, barbaric dark age, or in which a last call for sanity would penetrate the darkness, swinging the world away from disaster towards a new beginning wherein people could live in peace, security and freedom.

The older ones among us can remember vestiges of such a condition, when relaxed families built their own community entertainment; when personal dreams would have found little expression in the never-ending stream of consumer icons advertised on TV. Heritage and family tradition were strong, to be enhanced for coming generations. And in which young people could choose their future life on norms other than the chance of income. It is still something of a shock to discover large numbers of young people for whom such a picture is an utter mystery. The scramble now is simply materialistic - not just keeping up with, but getting ahead of the Joneses. If the race leaves you in anything but a "winner's" position, you are automatically a "loser". We seem perilously close to Douglas's "critical moment".

GOOTLIEBSEN'S 'CRITICAL MOMENT'

Robert Gottliebsen is one of the more discerning commentators. But he sees the future very much in terms of the share market. Whether there is to be any sort of recovery depends very much on 'consumer confidence'. In other words, are they prepared to continue borrowing in order to spend. His article in The Australian (29/4/03) opened:
"The next month or so will be critical for the world's share markets and business confidence. During that time US consumers need to embark on strong post-Iraq spending and Asia needs to show it can limit the effect of SARS".
All of which, of course, in the short term is true. But what of the longer-term effects if already overburdened American households take on more debt?

It is as much as to say that the destruction of the average US household is vital for economic recovery! And Australia's level of household debt is equally dangerous, even though the growth of borrowing is included in the "growth" figures that indicate our strength! It just may be that we have another short spurt of frenzied financial borrowing and gambling on already over-stretched Stock markets. It is likely - if it happens, and there is considerable doubt about this - to be a last 'death-rattle'.

HAS THE IRAQI WAR ENDED - OR JUST BEGUN?

It was sickening to see US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld cavorting in glee in one of Saddam Hussein's palaces, remembering that the last time he was there was to shake the former dictator's hand as he came bearing gifts - armaments, nerve agents and money - for the war against Iran. With the news that the US military base in Saudi Arabia is to be shut down the question is whether the Saudis are to be "cast into the outer darkness" with Iran and Syria?
It is not a question of military presence.

With four new military bases in Iraq, and an upgrading of Qatir to Saudi Arabia's immediate south, the US has all the facilities it needs in the Persian Gulf area. What it is doing in other less-publicised quarters is significant.

Peter Hartcher, in Washington Australian Financial Review - Weekend 24-27/4/03)said:
"…. But even as the US was waging war in Iraq in the name of freedom and democracy, even as the US weighs disentanglement from Saudi autocracy, it is repeating mistakes in another nearby part of the world. In an eerie parallel with the failed US policy in the Middle East, the US is embracing afresh a set of repressive regimes. Again, Washington in betraying its high principles of liberty and democracy for short-term advantage. Again, Washington is doing business with reptilian regimes in return for access to oil and military bases. Again, Washington is siding with autocrats who are oppressing and abusing Muslim populations, And again, it seems certain to be storing up trouble for itself. This time, however, it is doing it in Central Asia. America's new best friend is Uzbekistan, but it also is embracing Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. And this time the oil isn't the familiar Middle East deposits, but ,,, the Caspian Sea baisin. …."

With three military bases in the area, ostensibly established to invade the Taliban and Al Qaida in Afghanistan, one suggestion is that their long-term presence is to secure Caspian oil and add it to the US portfolio. Any potential ally who will cooperate in this objective is welcome - however cruel and barbaric. And we thought it was all about freedom and democracy!

But the states north of Afghanistan were formerly members of the communist USSR. Vladimir Putin is hardly likely to view a succession of American bases in what was once Soviet territory with enthusiasm. US policy is brinkmanship on an impossible scale. With military bases strong like a necklace along the Tropic of Cancer, ever extending the bounds of military empire, the Zio-cons who run the State Department in Washington are naïve if they believe thay can keep the peace by quelling the aspirations of an irate Islamic world.

Hartcher concluded his article: "… On the 12th day of the US-led invasion of Iraq in the name of freedom and democracy, the US State Department put out its annual report on human rights practices round the world. The report detailed how each of America's new friends in Central Asia practised political, religious and gender repression, with special sections on torture and disappearances …"

GLOBALISED FARMING

Since the late sixties the League of Rights has waged a lonely battle in favour of the family farm. The nature of the battle can only be understood by those with a real affinity with the soil. Farming is, as it has been for millennia, a way of life. It is only in the last few decades has it been turned into no more than another commercial operation. Such books as The Evolution of the English Farm, going as far back as the eighth century in Britain, describe one unchallengeable principle - a farm should always be left in a better and more fertile condition that when purchased or inherited. This principle took precedence over commercial considerations.

Profit, though not despised, was never given precedence over fertility. There has been a wholesale massacre of family farms and rural communities round the world. In the United State there are now more people in prisons than on the land. If a manufacturing company closes and puts 2,000 people out of work there are headlines. But a far greater attrition takes place annually out of farming communities without publicity. Where do they go? To drive taxis, do security guard jobs, or stagnate in squalor on the dole? And what of future food production?

The ecologically-conscious small farmer is being replaced by much more efficient large-scale enterprises, in which the financial bottom-line ranks much higher than the soil left for the next generation. And how is this state of affairs accounted for in the "GDP" figures by which Peter Costello measures the economic health of Australia?

The small kingdom of Bhutan has another set of figures - GDH, or "Gross Domestic Happiness". The only thing forbidden in that kingdom, it transpires, is plastic; which would doom the Australian dollar from the start! The Bhutans love their children and sing many songs together. Suicide is unknown, and the only creatures on drugs are pigs, which are fed on the marijuana plant. This leads to a state of perpetual porcine bliss which is much less venomous than that found in our revered Houses of Parliament in Canberra!

The next stage, in all probability, is to turn the prison populations into the farm slaves of the future, as they did in the last stages of the Roman Empire, where the latifundia, or amalgamated farms, produced deserts from previously productive land.

ANZAC DAY AND THE WAR IN IRAQ

The discussion with my granddaughter was interesting - and rewarding. She wanted to know and understand why was I so opposed to the involvement of Australia's sons and daughters in the war of aggression against Iraq, and yet, not only did I participate in this year's Anzac Day services, but I had done so for many a year. I am, after all, the daughter and sister of returned servicemen and women.

I think my position can be summed up in the universal principles of Justice, Good Faith and Veracity:
"To wrong, to rob, to cause to be robbed." (Babylonian)
"Choose loss rather than shameful gains." (Greek)

Why do you think the Turkish people allow us to hold Anzac Services on their soil? Surely it is because of the respectful memories they have of the brave men who fought at Gallipoli? Not because we invaded their land! "Courage has got to be harder, heart the stouter, spirit the sterner, as our strength weakens. Here lies our lord, cut to pieces, our best man in the dust. If anyone thinks of leaving this battle, he can howl forever." (Anglo-Saxon) Oh yes, as much as is within me, I am to live at peace with my neighbour. "Love your neighbour as yourself," (Christian) but there could come a time and a situation, when to turn the other cheek, that once too often, is not love, nor humility but cowardice. And, when deceitful leaders are in power, leaders who serve powers other than their own people, another Law comes into play.

The Law of Good Faith and Veracity: "I sought no trickery, nor swore false oaths." (Anglo-Saxon)
"Hateful to me as are the gates of Hades is that man who says one thing, and hides another in his heart." (Greek)

WHAT TO DO WITH A LEADER WHO LIES

Readers will remember Edward Rock's words to John Howard (7th April 2003) "For months on end you lied to us about your intention to bow to the forces of evil in the world demanding war on Iraq. You continuously told us you had no fixed intention to comply, while knowing it was always your intention to comply. You lied because you feared the political backlash would thwart the carrying out of your evil deed."
Read on and you will now know what to do with such leaders!

How to deal with a leader who lies - from Donald Rumsfeld: It is not one single lie that has an effect on the public. It is the cumulative effect of dozens of lies, big and small, reiterated daily and challenged rarely. That is the effect that has brought us to where we are today. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, speaking 19th January, 2003 on the ABC, (USA) offered the media splendid advice on how they should handle in their broadcasts and articles a leader that lies: "Well, first, Saddam Hussein is a liar. He lies every single day. He is still claiming that he won the war. His people are being told every day that they won. It was a great victory in 1991 when he was thrown out of Kuwait and chased back to Baghdad. Now, it seems to me that almost every time you quote something from him, you should preface it by saying 'here's a man who has lied all the time and consistently."

CHRISTIAN CIVILISATION

"The civilisation of Christianity was incompletely embodied in the culture of mediaeval Europe, and is exemplified in Magna Carta. Its essential characteristic is courage, allied to 'love,' cf. "Perfect love casteth out fear". The knight of chivalry, the militant Christian ideal, watched his armour alone in the chapel through the night, and then went out to do battle alone for love against fear and oppression - a very complete allegory… the object of the Anti-Christ is to keep mankind in ever larger mobs, thus defeating the object of Christ, to permit the emergence of self-governing, self-conscious individuals, exercising free will, and choosing good because it is good."

[Further reading: "The Realistic Position of the Church of England" by C.H. Douglas; "Yes Virginia, There is Right & Wrong" by Dr. Kathleen M. Gow; "Secular Humanism and Australian Education" by Dr. Rupert Goodman; "The Siecus Circle: A Humanist Revolution" by Claire Chambers.]

ARMED FORCES & THE CURSE OF BUREAUCRACY & POLITICIANS

British On Target, 11th & 25th January 2003:
"Those who fight for their country, who are maimed and often die have been betrayed throughout history once their job has been done. We therefore reproduce in full here some examples of this parsimony, and other obstructions. We include the letter from Major General Corp and another report to which we refer in the accompanying On Target.
On one occasion during the 1939-45 War, escaped British officers were assembled at Golden Cross House in London to be welcomed back and congratulated. At the end of this session they were also informed that those who had held acting rank during their captivity would lose the additional pay of that rank for the period in question.

A recent report in the Shropshire Star, of 10th February, 2003, "Pay shock - for soldiers sent off to war-zone", was therefore nothing new: "Troops facing possible war against Iraq will lose pay because they have been sent to the Gulf, it emerged today. The Ministry of Defence confirmed that personnel receiving Local Overseas Allowance because they are based abroad will lose 20 per cent of it shortly after being posted. The deductions start after 17 days' deployment, and the amounts lost range from 90pence to £5.70 a day. The decision was branded "disgraceful" by Tory M.P. and ex-GuIf War veteran Hugh Robertson, who said that even though the sums of money involved will be small in many cases, the idea of soldiers losing income when they are sent to a potential war-zone was unacceptable.
Defence Minister Lewis Moonie said: "Single and married unaccompanied personnel lose 20 per cent of their full L.O.A. after the first 17 days". Those whose spouses remain at the overseas base during the deployment will continue to receive the full payment, he added.

Major General sticks up for the troops: Major General Corp, a former Director-General of Equipment Support (Army), expressed the exasperation of the engineer and logistician in a letter to The Daily Telegraph, of 4th February, 2003 headed: "Penny-pinching incompetence saps morale":
"I suspect you are too kind in describing the failure of the MoD to order sand-coloured paint as forgetfulness. If my experience of preparing for the Gulf in 1990 is any guide, it is another case of rolling myopia - the refusal of the MoD and Treasury bean-counters, or their political masters, to give financial clearance to any urgent operational purchases until every "i" had been dotted and every "t" crossed on the unit deployment details. At least, in 1990, a large-scale desert deployment hadn't been done within the memory of anyone serving, and Cold War defence planning allowed the Army to provision only for a war of a few days' duration in North-West Europe, over modest distances in a temperate climate. It was only to be expected that there would be insufficient spare engines, gearboxes and sights to support build-up training and a planned month of operations in the more demanding conditions of the desert, over a greatly extended re-supply chain. Large numbers of such items had to be robbed from other armoured vehicles, tested, packed and dispatched in short order. Even so, the tanks were repainted before they were shipped.
This time, however, there are no such excuses. Expeditionary warfare has been at the heart of defence planning for several years now, and engineering and supply professionals have spelt out the sustainability implications, aided by improved data gathering and analysis techniques. Further experience has been gained of mounting and supporting armoured deployments in the Balkans and in last year's exercise in Oman.
Despite all this, successive budgetary reductions (by Conservative and Labour governments alike), driven by the siren call of the "peace dividend", and the aping of superficially understood commercial techniques such as "Just in Time", have resulted in the pathetic and shameful state of affairs you describe. "Just in Time" is fine for manufacturing or buying off the shelf. The unpredictability of military operations, however, plus the long lead times and limited production capacities of many military special items and components, demand a good measure of "Just in Case" as well. Instead, we appear to have "Just too Late".
What is so wicked about this penny-pinching procrastination is the soldiers deploying to the Gulf will find themselves painting and desertising their equipment at the expense of training and resting time. They will be working round the clock to get everything ready, knowing it could have been done better in good workshop conditions back in Germany or Britain.
As a morale depressant immediately before risking their lives, it takes some beating.

Work experience is much in vogue. I suggest that a platoon of the MoD and Treasury colleagues responsible, led by a minister, be flown to the Gulf to spend a week working 16 hours a day with a paintbrush or spanner, sleeping in tents and eating Army rations - preferably on trooper's rate of pay. The balance of their salaries would doubtless be gratefully received by the Army Benevolent Fund" (emphasis added…ed).

Defence Secretary "Holiday" Hoon could well reflect on this report on British fighting efficiency, taken from The Daily Telegraph 7th January, 2003:
"Possibly somebody should tell the mad officials of the Health and Safety Executive that it is sometimes necessary to escape quickly from a tank that has been hit, to remove the wounded, and get clear of any fire before ammunition begins to explode. Perhaps Health and Safety inspectors should have accompanied the British Forces to give a ruling before the crews attempted any evacuation in the event of a tank being hit? British troops heading to the Gulf would have been alarmed by a claim in yesterday's Telegraph that they face an "unacceptable" risk of death from friendly fire.
[Gossip columnist] Peterborough can offer one crumb of comfort though: they should be mercifully free of the curse of the sprained ankle. For I hear that our tank regiments have been issued with equipment to help soldiers dismount safely from their vehicles. "In the old days, we'd simply jump off the roof', says one cavalryman. "But now that's frowned upon because people might hurt themselves and sue. So we've been given wooden planks to help us get off".

Over to the MoD "Under Health and Safety, it is now necessary to use ladders when dismounting the Challenger Mark II tanks if they are in a concrete tank park", says a spokesman."

In Flanders Fields
by Dr John McCrae, May 1915

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow,
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders Fields
Take up our quarrel with the foe
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep,
Though poppies grow - In Flanders Fields
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