Home > No more lies and cover-ups: Robert Hill must resign
The Stop the War Coalition is calling on Senator Robert Hill to resign following the revelations that the government failed to fully disclose when it first found out about the prisoner abuse in Iraq. It is also calling for the Australian troops to be withdrawn from Iraq immediately.
"The Howard government has again been caught out trying to fool the public into believing it bears no responsibility for the growing scandal surrounding human rights atrocities committed against Iraqis by the US-led invasion and occupation forces", said Ms Anna Samson, spokesperson for the Stop the War Coalition.
"At best we are seeing more evidence of the sheer incompetence of the Defence Department headed by Senator Hill. At worst, it is another attempt to get away with lying to the Australian people. We had the lies about children being thrown scandal, about the SIEV-X disaster, weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and now lies about whether the government knew about despicable treatment of Iraqi prisoners. When will it end?"
Ms Samson said that while there are no allegations of Australian troops being directly involved in the prisoner abuse, Australian SAS troops, operating with soldiers from Britain and the US, captured almost 60 Iraqis and turned them over to the US and British military.
"If this was done with even a scintilla of knowledge that these people may be maltreated, the Australian government can no longer justify its role in Iraq as one of ‘liberator’", concluded Ms Samson.
The Stop the War Coalition has joined the calls being made internationally for the occupation of Iraq to end immediately.
Anna Samson 0401 900 690, Jarvis Ryan 0404 015 789, Pip Hinman 0412 139 968