Australia’s Howard Government ‘knew Iraq plans a year before’ 2003 Invasion

In-depth Report:

AWB ‘knew Iraq plans a year before’ 

A year before the invasion of Iraq, the then Australian ambassador to the United Nations, John Dauth, confidentially told AWB’s former chairman Trevor Flugge the Howard Government would participate in miliary action with the US to overthrow Saddam Hussein, new AWB documents reveal.

AWB Board minutes show Mr Flugge told the AWB board on February 27, 2002, that Mr Dauth confided in him that he believed US military action to depose Saddam Hussein was inevitable and that the Australian Government would support and participate in such action, Fairfax newspapers report.

The documents, released at the Cole inquiry yesterday, undercut previous statements by Prime Minister John Howard that Australia did not agree to join the war before the UN debate in late 2002 and early 2003.

The conversation between Mr Dauth and Mr Flugge is reported to have taken place 13 months before the military action began.

Mr Dauth also predicted Iraq would invite UN weapons inspectors to return to the country to hold off any US military action for a year to 18 months.

The former UN ambassador also promised he would give Mr Flugge as much warning as possible about when the military action would begin, Fairfax reports.


Comment on Global Research Articles on our Facebook page

Become a Member of Global Research


Articles by: Global Research

Disclaimer: The contents of this article are of sole responsibility of the author(s). The Centre for Research on Globalization will not be responsible for any inaccurate or incorrect statement in this article. The Centre of Research on Globalization grants permission to cross-post Global Research articles on community internet sites as long the source and copyright are acknowledged together with a hyperlink to the original Global Research article. For publication of Global Research articles in print or other forms including commercial internet sites, contact: [email protected]

www.globalresearch.ca contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available to our readers under the provisions of "fair use" in an effort to advance a better understanding of political, economic and social issues. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving it for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes other than "fair use" you must request permission from the copyright owner.

For media inquiries: [email protected]