Our politicians have selectively convenient memories – or they think Australians are fools.

Both Attorney-General Philip Ruddock and opposition leader Kim Beazley assert, despite evidence to the contrary and ordinary commonsense, that the terrorist attack on the Australian embassy in Indonesia is not related to our involvement in Iraq, claiming that terrorist attacks began before the invasion of Iraq in 2002. They conveniently forget that Australia has had naval forces enforcing the United Nations sanctions against Iraq since the first Gulf war in 1991.

As for Kim Beazley clamouring for the return of Australian troops to Afghanistan to ‘finish the job’ as he says, the only visible results of our first involvement in a regime change was to replace the Taliban with warlords, who are just as vicious and undemocratic as the Talibs, and to rejuvenate the opium trade which the Taliban had suppressed. In both cases these countries were invaded without any thought of the future following a successful invasion. Will this be the scenario with Iran, North Korea and Burma? Whether they believe it or not, the only way our politicians can take us out of the danger of terrorist attacks is to back off from overseas engagements.
Mr C. M. Friel,
Alawa, Northern Territory