Iraq may technically have regained its sovereignty, but what sort of freedom or stability its people might enjoy remains to be seen. The United States, Britain and Australia waged a war to remove the tyrant, Saddam Hussein, but at great cost to their own standing in the international community, to the system of international law, the United Nations and the people of Iraq. Britain and the United States have since been desperately trying to retrieve the moral ground lost during the Iraq war.
At Mr Howard’s meeting with him in Washington in early June, President Bush obligingly condemned Mark Latham’s intention to withdraw Australian troops by Christmas, but elevated the question of the US alliance and the Iraqi entanglement higher on the electoral scoreboard.
Bush flew straight to Rome to meet Pope John Paul II who had strongly opposed the Iraq war on moral grounds and because of the ‘grave unrest in the Middle East’ likely to result. He told Bush: ‘You are very familiar with the unequivocal position of the Holy See in this regard.’ He pointedly reiterated that Iraq must quickly have its sovereignty restored, and the international community, particularly the UN, must be brought in to help return the country to normality. The Vatican was earlier dismayed at the new US unilateralism and its claim to a right of pre-emptive attack. Such actions undermine the system of international governance and the UN, which various popes have long supported as the best means to promote peace, the rule of international law and global economic security.
John Paul also noted that the ‘deplorable abuses’ of Iraqi prisoners ‘have troubled the civic and religious conscience of all, and made more difficult a serene and resolute commitment to shared human values’. Implied in this last phrase is a criticism of the US claim to ‘exceptionalism’ and to a right to act against international norms of conduct if judged to be in its national interest. John Paul continued that without a commitment to ‘shared human values … neither war nor terrorism will ever be overcome’.
The Pope highlighted one of the burning issues in the Middle East, the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. The Vatican is deeply concerned about the hawkish support in the Bush administration for Israel’s right-wing politicians. In carefully diplomatic language, the Pope called for ‘new negotiations,
dictated by a sincere commitment to dialogue.’
Many Australian clergy and laity have been disturbed that