President Bush declared the War on Terror in 2001. Dr Alison Broinowski AM, Australians for War Power Reforms (AWPR), former diplomat and Author, argues that America and its Western Allies including Australia have been involved in multiple ‘never ending’ foreign wars with no declaration in sight of victory.
US President George W. Bush declared the war on terror in 2001. Dr Alison Broinowski AM, Australians for War Power Reforms (AWPR), former diplomat and Author, argues that America and its Western allies – including Australia – have been involved in multiple ‘never ending’ foreign wars with no declaration in sight of victory.
Despite many years of discussion, any concept of ‘victory’ has foundered on the idea that one person’s terrorist is another person’s freedom fighter.
There are no treaties, conventions, or rules in the War on Terror, and in their absence individual countries have passed their own laws with little discussion and in processes that lack transparency or accountability.
Broinowski argues that anyone may be defined as a terrorist or supporter of a terrorist organisation. To date Australia has declared 34 organisations as terrorists with sanctions and penalties set out in over 90 pieces of legislation.
Most worryingly, in Broinowski’s view, terrorism committed by states in the name of militarism are not subject to these laws .
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Michael Lester is a public policy economist with a career in Commonwealth and State agencies, World Bank and OECD. His interests include innovation, environment, and governance. He presents programs on community radio.
Dr Alison Broinowski AM is a former Australian diplomat and a member of Australians fr War Powers Reform