Jose Maria Aznar (Spain’s former prime minister), Silvio Berlusconi (ex-Italian premier), Tony Blair (former UK head of government), Yaroslav Kaczynski (former Polish prime minister) and now John Howard (recently ousted Australian leader) are collectively paying an exorbitant price for supporting one of the deadliest and most unpopular wars in recent history.
Even if the leaders of Spain, Italy, Britain, Poland and Australia got the boot because of huge problems at home, few doubt that joining Bush’s illegal war against Iraq in fact sealed their fate.
Among the key allies of George Bush, no one embraced the invasion and occupation of the Arab country as emphatically as Howard. When opinion polls in the UK showed deep frustration of the people over the prolonged conflict in Iraq, Blair was forced to say something about reducing British military presence in the devastated country.
But Howard was on a totally different wavelength. He refused to follow the Blair path of escape despite the fact that the queen of England is also head of state of Australia. Why? Washington for long had become more precious than the royal court for Canberra.
Of course, the conservative Howard’s biggest problem vis-ˆ-vis his Labor rival Kevin Rudd was not limited to the deadly war in Iraq where Australia has 900 troops. The country needed a new leadership that could bring fundamental change in domestic and foreign policy due to Howard’s tiring 11-year rule.
In the vote that resulted in the victory of the Labor Party, key economic and social issues, including labor reform, immigration laws, and environmental degradation were also important.
The Howard regime visibly influenced by Australia’s traditional racial discrimination, intensified the anti-immigration regulations for Asians while encouraging immigration from Europe. The controversial immigration policy was supported by the European community in Australia and the minority Asians were frustrated.
Flexibility of key Labor players toward the non-European community resulted in the support of the strong Asian minority for Rudd and his policies.
Regarding environmental issues, Australians regularly voiced concern over Howard’s rigid opposition to the Kyoto Protocol that was largely to appease his pal in Washington.
A recent Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Sydney turned its streets into a scene of widespread protests by environmentalists and friends of nature.
Australia is the second important industrial state after the US that rejected the Kyoto document to help protect the environment. This is while its people are exposed to grave environmental dangers as a result of serious damage to the Ozone layer close to their borders.
True, Howard is now history. But this does not mean his political legacy, including the US-Australia strategic partnership, will undergo fundamental change with Rudd in the driving seat.