Australia now finds itself on the edge of what may become an abyss through what has all the earmarks of an irrational and pathological obsession of the men surrounding an American President able, perhaps willing, to be manipulated.

The so-called "Troubles" in Ireland over the past 35 years are just the most recent outbreak of Irish antipathy toward the English which has its origins in the 17^th century. At least 3,000 individuals have been killed during the thirty-five years of "The Troubles". In simple terms the Anglo-Irish conflict has been going on for at least ten to fifteen generations and it is hardly unique. But ugly as it is it remains confined.

Australia now finds itself on the edge of what may become an abyss through what has all the earmarks of an irrational and pathological obsession of the men surrounding an American President able, perhaps willing, to be manipulated. And Australia through its Prime Minister has committed resources it can ill afford, to what at best can be considered a dubious enterprise. Robin Cook, leader of the Commons and former British Foreign Secretary, in announcing his resignation from the government, made his case to the House of Commons on March 17. The full text is available in UK Hansard.

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, Princeton Professor of Economics and International Affairs, entitled his March 14^th opinion piece "George W. Queeg"; a reference to the pathologically obsessed Captain of the USS Caine, Lieutenant Commander Philip Francis Queeg, portrayed in Herman Wouk's The Caine Mutiny.

Turning to the matter of costs a senior US administration official announced on Tuesday that President Bush will ask Congress for US$74.7 (A$125.2) billion to pay for the war in Iraq.  The money covers anticipated expenses for the next six months only, i.e. to the end of the current US fiscal year of Sept. 30. To put this into some sort of perspective the total Australian Budget receipts for 2000/01 were A$160 billion and were estimated to reach A$164 billion for 2001/02. To date the Treasurer, Peter Costello has vaguely indicated that the cost to Australia for deploying forces in the Gulf would cost between $100-200 million. That did not include additional costs were they to become engaged in military action. Once the final accounting comes in, it would hardly be surprising if the real cost for our Government's Gulf adventure went into the billions.

To what purpose? Robin Cook told his Prime Minister in no uncertain terms when addressing the Commons"

Only a year ago, we and the United States were part of a coalition against terrorism that was wider and more diverse than I would ever have imagined possible. History will be astonished at the diplomatic miscalculations that led so quickly to the disintegration of that powerful coalition. The US can afford to go it alone, but Britain is not a superpower. Our interests are best protected not by unilateral action but by multilateral agreement and a world order governed by rules.

Are we Australians in any better position to squander resources to say nothing of how we are perceived by and interact with our neighbors.

Simultaneously, the Minister for Education, Science and Training, Brendan Nelson informs us that his department will have little if any additional funding to upgrade the facilities he is responsible for and the same is pretty well true for most of his cabinet colleagues who share responsibility for overseeing the domestic wellbeing of the nation.

For over seven years the Coalition Government has shown overweening pride in its financial management while the nation's institutions of higher education continue to decay and the percentage of GDP allocated  to research and development falls further behind our OECD cohort. There are sufficient examples to demonstrate that a nation as rich as Australia can well afford to raise its commitment to developing a  21^st century knowledge economy. The question is why is the government unable or unwilling to husband the nation's resources appropriately. So, for example, what on Earth are we doing prating about squandering our resources to contribute about 0.5% of the forces engaged in Gulf War II. Despite all Mr Howard's posturing, the United States is unlikely to yield us a gain on our investment and it's a dead certainty that no one else will. And to attempt to take the moral high ground is ludicrous. The Prime Minister could do worse than to heed Voltaire when he has Candide admonish Dr. Pangloss, "All that is very well, but let us cultivate our garden"

It certainly needs it.

Elsewhere, Voltaire had some other advice for his readers:

"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."

Alex Reisner
The Funneled Web