Rudd Australia Report Card

Australia has failed in War and Climate Change

2008-09-18T21:33:00.000-07:00

Australia has failed in war and climate change

This is the case for the affirmative put by Dr Gideon Polya in a public debate sponsored by a branch of the University of the Third Age (U3A) in Melbourne, September 2008 .

Much of what I will say involves quoting world-leading authoritative sources of data, ethics and international law in relation to War and Climate Change – my argument together with sources, additional statistics and Web links can be found on the Web by simply searching for the phrase “Australia has failed in war and climate change”

I must also state from where I am coming philosophically. I am an agnostic Humanist scientist and an artist and believe with John Keats on his Ode on a Grecian Urn that “Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know” (see: (see: http://www.bartleby.com/101/625.html ) .

My moral philosophy is uncomplicated and used to be unexceptional – I believe with the American Declaration of Independence that “all man are created equal and have an unalienable right to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness” and with Jesus Christ that one should “love thy neighbour as thyself” and that one “should not walk by on the other side”.

I rigorously adhere to “zero tolerance for racism” and “never again to anyone” that are core messages from the World War 2 Jewish Holocaust (6 million dead, 1 in 6 million dying from deprivation ); from the Western Theatre World War 2 Holocaust in general (30 million Slav, Jewish and Roma dead); and from the World War 2 Eastern Theatre Holocaust (35 million Chinese dead in the Japanese occupation, 1937-1945; 6-7 million Indians deliberately starved to death by the British, 1943-1945) (see “Body Count. Global avoidable mortality since 1950”, G.M. Polya, Melbourne, 2007: http://mwcnews.net/Gideon-Polya and http://globalbodycount.blogspot.com/ ; “Jane Austen and the Black Hole of British History”: http://janeaustenand.blogspot.com/2008/09/jane-austen-and-black-hole-of-british.html ; also see recent BBC broadcast on the World War 2 man-made Bengal Famine involving me, Economics Nobel Laureate Professor Amartya Sen and others: http://www.open2.net/thingsweforgot/bengalfamine_programme.html ).

Yet “zero tolerance for racism” and “never again to anyone”– fundamental injunctions from the World War 2 Holocaust - are still being grossly violated by Australia and America in both War and Climate Change.

Failure is the opposite of success. Australia has grossly failed in War and Climate Change in both a qualitative, moral sense and in a quantitative sense.

Australia has failed in a qualitative, moral sense (by grossly violating fundamental moral and legal injunctions to preserve human life) and in a quantitative sense (by complicity in crimes involving millions of avoidable deaths in war and threatening literally billions more avoidable deaths through man-made Climate Change).

In summary, Australia has failed in War by being involved in all post-1950 US Asian Wars that have so far been associated with 25 million avoidable Indigenous Asian deaths. Australia is STILL variously involved in the ongoing US Global Holocaust - 9-11 million deaths in the Bush Wars, over 4 million infant deaths and 17 million refugees, a Global Genocide encompassing Indigenous Genocide, Palestinian Genocide, Iraqi Genocide and Afghan Genocide (see “9-11 excuse for US global genocide. The real 9-11 atrocity: Millions Dead in Bush Wars”: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/25184/42/ and “Media-ignored 9-11 crime: 9-11 million dead in Bush wars”: http://gpolya.newsvine.com/_news/2008/09/12/1860137-media-ignored-9-11-crime-9-11-million-dead-in-bush-wars ) with “Genocide” as defined by Article 2 of the UN Genocide Convention as “acts committed with intent to destroy a national, racial or religious group in whole or in part” (see: http://www.edwebproject.org/sideshow/genocide/convention.html ).

In summary, Australia has failed in relation to Climate Change by being one of the world’s worst greenhouse gas polluters and gives no indication of changing its policies substantially in a world facing a Climate Emergency – the UK Chief Scientist Professor John Beddington FRS says that “billions” are threatened by biofuel- and global warming-driven global food prices rises; Dr James Lovelock FRS says that “billions” are threatened by global warming and that over 6 billion will perish due to unaddressed Climate Change i.e. Biofuel Genocide and Climate Genocide (see: http://sites.google.com/site/yarravalleyclimateactiongroup/climate-emergency-what-top-world-scientific-experts-say ).

Let us examine these Australian crimes quantitatively, noting that Lord Kelvin, (the founder of Thermodynamics that is fundamental to the Industrial Revolution and the attendant Scientific Revolution) declared that we should use NUMBERS when making factual assertions.

The most fundamental parameter we can use to assess the success or otherwise of national policies is avoidable death – something that I have variously been studying for 4 decades as a biochemist, biologist, biochemical pharmacologist and thanatologist (one who studies the causes of death). Indeed I have recently published a comprehensive treatise entitled “Body Count. Global avoidable mortality since 1950” (see: http://mwcnews.net/Gideon-Polya and http://globalbodycount.blogspot.com/ ).

Avoidable deaths (excess deaths, avoidable mortality, excess mortality, deaths that should not have happened) associated with war and occupation can be either (a) violent or (b) non-violent (due to deprivation and deprivation-exacerbated disease).

Avoidable mortality is defined as the difference between the actual deaths in a country and the deaths expected for a peaceful, decently-governed country with the same demographics (see: http://globalavoidablemortality.blogspot.com/ and http://globalavoidablemortality.blogspot.com/2008/08/body-count-global-avoidable-mortality.html ).

As analysed in my book “Body Count”, excess death is essentially zero in North America, Australia, Western Europe and in East Asian countries (except for Mongolia and North Korea) and various other peaceful and decently-governed countries in the non-European world.

However huge excess mortality is found in Africa, South Asia, Central Asia, and notably among Indigenous Australians (annual avoidable death rate 1.8%) and in US- or US surrogate –occupied countries (excess deaths associated with post-1950 US Asian wars so far total 25 million) (for Web-published data see: http://globalavoidablemortality.blogspot.com/2008/08/body-count-global-avoidable-mortality.html).

1990-2005 excess mortality totals 1.3 billion (the World), 1.2 billion (the non-European world), 0.6 billion (the Muslim world), these estimates being consonant with independent estimates (from UN Population Division data) of 1950-2005 under-5 infant deaths totalling 0.88 million, (the world), 0.85 billion (the non-European world) and 0.4 billion (the Muslim world).

Excess mortality is zero in invading and occupying Western colonial countries but very high in countries that have been invaded and occupied.

[Thus the 1950-2005 excess deaths in countries violently occupied at some time in the post-war era have been estimated (in millions, m) for all the major Occupiers of these countries: Australia (2m in PNG and Solomons), Belgium (36m), Ethiopia (2m, Eritrea), France (142m), Indonesia (0.7m, Timor Leste), Iraq (0.09m in Kuwait), Israel (24m), Netherlands (72m), New Zealand (0.04m, Samoa), Pakistan (51m, Bangladesh), Portugal (23m), Russia (37m), South Africa (0.7m, Namibia), Spain (9m), Turkey (0.05m, Cyprus), UK (727m), and US (82m)] (for Web-published data see: http://globalavoidablemortality.blogspot.com/2008/08/body-count-global-avoidable-mortality.html). .

This carnage in Occupied countries has been mostly caused by deprivation and deprivation-exacerbated disease and the ETHICAL dimension for the responsible Occupiers is provided by

World-leading bioethicist Professor Peter Singer (currently at Princeton University and the University of Melbourne) has stated that Peter Singer in Writings on an Ethical Life: “We are responsible not only for what we do but also for what we could have prevented… We should consider the consequences both of what we do and what we decide not to do.”

From a LEGAL perspective, the Geneva Convention (implemented in 1950) demands that war be confined to military combatants, that civilians not be targeted and that the conqueror is obliged to do everything within his means to preserve the lives of the conquered. Articles 55 and 56 of the Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilians in Time of War demand that the Occupier does everything “to the fullest extent of the means available to it” to preserve the health and lives of its Occupied subjects.

Article 55 states: “To the fullest extent of the means available to it, the Occupying Power has the duty of ensuring the food and medical supplies of the population …” and Article 56 states: “To the fullest extent of the means available to it, the Occupying Power has the duty of ensuring and maintaining, with the cooperation of national and local authorities, the medical and hospital establishments and services, public health and hygiene in the occupied territory …” (see: http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/instree/y4gcpcp.htm ).

However consulting the World Health Organization (see: http://www.who.int/en/ ) we find that “annual total per capita medical expenditure” in Occupied Afghanistan is $26 and $130 in Occupied Iraq) – as compared to about $3,000 in Australia and NATO Occupier countries and $6,400 for the US.

Failure is the converse of success. Is Australian complicity in active and passive mass murder of 25 million Asians “success” or “failure”?

Professor Peter Singer provides the further ETHICAL viewpoint in relation to the active and passive killing of newborn infants (noting that about TWO THIRDS of the avoidable deaths on Spaceship Earth and in the various Australian-occupied countries today are of under-5 year old infants): “Doctors who deliberately leave a baby to die when they have the awareness, the ability, and the opportunity to save the baby’s life, are just as morally responsible for the death as they would be if they had brought it about by a deliberate , positive action.”

There is very proper focus on those responsible for the 9-11 atrocity - 3,000 victims but we still do NOT know who did 9/11, notwithstanding Mainstream media and politician propaganda.

However Mainstream media and politicians IGNORE the REAL 9-11 atrocity – the 9-11 million post-invasion avoidable deaths associated with the Bush Wars from 1990-2008 – we DO know who has been involved in this carnage: the US, the UK, NATO and Australia (see “9-11 excuse for US global genocide. The real 9-11 atrocity: Millions Dead in Bush Wars”: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/25184/42/ and “Media-ignored 9-11 crime: 9-11 million dead in Bush wars”: http://gpolya.newsvine.com/_news/2008/09/12/1860137-media-ignored-9-11-crime-9-11-million-dead-in-bush-wars ).

Here is a breakdown of avoidable Indigenous deaths in post-1950 US Asian wars in which Australia has been involved.

Korean War (1 million avoidable deaths).

Indo-China War (13 million avoidable deaths)

Iraq Sanctions and War (4 million avoidable deaths; 6 million Iraqi refugees).

Afghanistan War (roughly 4-6 million avoidable deaths; 4 million Afghan refugees).

We must also add the 0.6 million global post-invasion opiate drug-related deaths (about 50,000 in the US, 2,000 in Australia) due to US restoration of the Taliban-destroyed Afghan opium industry to 93% of world market share in 2007, as compared to only 5% in 2001 (UN Office on Drugs and Crime World Drug Report 2007: http://www.unodc.org/ ).

The carnage in Occupied Iraq (post-invasion excess deaths 2 million, post-invasion under-5 infant deaths 0.6 million, 6 million refugees) and in Occupied Afghanistan (post-invasion excess deaths 4-6 million, under-5 infant deaths 2.1 million and refugees totalling 4 million) are indicative of an Iraqi Genocide and an Afghan Genocide as defined by Article 2 of the UN Genocide Convention (“acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group”) (see: (see “9-11 excuse for US global genocide. The real 9-11 atrocity: Millions Dead in Bush Wars”: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/25184/42/ and “Media-ignored 9-11 crime: 9-11 million dead in Bush wars”: http://gpolya.newsvine.com/_news/2008/09/12/1860137-media-ignored-9-11-crime-9-11-million-dead-in-bush-wars ) .

A final statistic: the “annual death rate” is 6.2% for under-5 year old infants in Australia-occupied Afghan as compared to 10.2% for Australian prisoners of war of the Japanese in World War 2 (for which crime Japanese generals were tried and hanged) (see: http://gpolya.newsvine.com/_news/2008/04/11/1425470-tibet-exposes-australia-as-worlds-worst-human-rights-abuser ). Is this an Australian “success” or a “failure”?

Journalists, editors, politicians, academics and commentators ignoring the 9-11 million avoidable deaths in the Bush Wars in which Australia is complicit would face 10 years in prison in Austria if they minimized or denied the Jewish Holocaust component of the World War 2 Holocaust (see: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/12483/26/ ).

Peace is the only way but silence kills and silence is complicity. Brilliant Indian writer Arundhati Roy has commented on the “politically correct” racist (PC racist) Western “denial” reality: “the ultimate privilege of the élite is not just their deluxe lifestyles, but deluxe lifestyles with a clear conscience.”

Australia has grossly failed in War through commission, ignoring and denial of horrendous human carnage amounting to Genocide as defined by the UN Genocide Convention – ignoring and denial will not make this continuing Holocaust and Genocide go away.

Indeed outstanding writers Dr Weissbrot, Dr Paul Craig Roberts, Tariq Ali and John Pilger refer to the Iraqi Holocaust and/or Iraqi Genocide and top US law professor Ali Khan refers to the Afghan Genocide. 2005 Nobel Laureate Harold Pinter wants Bush and Blair arraigned for war crimes and a group of Australian lawyers and doctors have sent a formal complaint to the International Criminal Court over Australia’s participation in the Iraqi Genocide (as have I) (see: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/24575/42/ ).

Let us now turn to Climate Change – and again I will rely upon authoritative scientific sources and the opinions of outstanding scholars in documenting and quantifying Australia’s “failure” i.e. its lack of “success” (e.g. see “Climate Emergency: what top world scientific experts say”: http://sites.google.com/site/yarravalleyclimateactiongroup/climate-emergency-what-top-world-scientific-experts-say ).

Whether it is climate change risks or major disease risks (e.g. from flu, smoking, alcohol, obesity etc), responsible risk management means that we take very seriously the advice from top scientific and medical experts at the cutting edge of research in these areas and ALSO from other outstanding scientists and top scientific bodies able to make authoritative statements about such risks.

You are familiar with the realities of man-made global warming. Each year the sun irradiates the earth with 10,000 times more energy than is used by man each year. Light reflected and re-irradiated from the earth is absorbed by gases such as carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄), nitrous oxide (N₂O) and water (H₂O). Since the Industrial Revolution the atmospheric CO₂ concentration has gone from 280 parts per million (ppm) to a current 387 ppm; it is increasing at about 2.5 ppm per year; and while being at the lowest point of the 11-year solar irradiance cycle in 2008, the extent of Arctic sea ice in 2008 is the second lowest on record (see “Climate Code red. The case for emergency action” by David Spratt and Philip Sutton (Scribe, Melbourne, 2008; see: http://www.climatecodered.net/ ).

This is what the official US Government National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC: http://nsidc.org/ ) said in September 2008: “Following a record rate of ice loss through the month of August, Arctic sea ice extent already stands as the second-lowest on record, further reinforcing conclusions that the Arctic sea ice cover is in a long-term state of decline”.

The Arctic is now several degrees warmer than it was half a century ago and positive feedback mechanisms are accelerating warming. Thus replacing white, light-reflecting ice and snow with “black” sea water means the arctic absorbs more solar energy (the so-called “albedo flip”. The tundra is melting releasing methane and CO₂ which in turn increase temperature through the greenhouse effect.

Responding to the accelerating and catastrophic loss of Arctic sea ice (it may be all gone within 5 years) top US climate scientist; Director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, Dr James Hansen: “If humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted, paleoclimate evidence and ongoing climate change suggest that CO₂ will need to be reduced from its current 385 ppm to at most 350 ppm” (see: http://arxiv.org/abs/0804.1126 ) and “we face a climate emergency” (see: http://www.climatecodered.net/ ).

According to top coral experts the world’s coral reefs are ALREADY in serious trouble due to ocean acidification (from dissolved CO₂) and ocean warming (leading to expulsiom of photosynthetic algal symbionts from the coral) (see: Coral Reefs Under Rapid Climate Change and Ocean Acidification, Science 14 December 2007: Vol. 318. no. 5857, pp. 1737 – 1742: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/318/5857/1737 ).

The coral scientists tell us that the world’s coral will die above 450 ppm. Top UK climate scientist Dr James Lovelock FRS tells us that above 500 ppm CO₂ the algae of the oceans that keep us cool (through promoting cloud formation and sequestering CO₂) decline dramatically and the Greenland ice sheet goes (leading to sea level rise of 7 metres) (see “The Revenge of Gaia” by James Lovelock)..

Yet Australia under the climate criminal Lib-Labs is aiming at increasing atmospheric CO₂ to 450-550 ppm (Labor) and indefinitely (the Liberals).

This is what some other outstanding Australian and overseas climate scientists, Nobel Laureates and top medical experts say about what is effectively a Climate Emergency due to man-made greenhouse gas pollution (see: http://sites.google.com/site/yarravalleyclimateactiongroup/climate-emergency-what-outstanding-australian-scientists-say and http://sites.google.com/site/yarravalleyclimateactiongroup/climate-emergency-what-top-world-scientific-experts-say ):

Dr John Beddington FRS, Chief UK Government Science Adviser: “Billions” are threatened buy biofuel- (and climate-change-) driven global food price increases.

Dr James Lovelock FRS says that “billions” are threatened by climate change and that over 6 billion will perish this century due to unaddressed global warming.

Nobel Prize-winner Professor Peter Doherty: “We are in real danger. The recent CSIRO report suggests that temperatures could rise as much as five degrees by 2070. The ice is melting much more quickly than anyone expected. The Himalayas are melting very fast. We are now talking about the Arctic being ice-free by 2030”

Professor David de Kretser, Governor of Victoria, and eminent Australian medical scientist in launching the book “Climate Code Red. The case for emergency action” by David Spratt and Philip Sutton (Scribe, Melbourne, 2008): “There is no doubt in my mind that this is the greatest problem confronting mankind at this time and that it has reached the level of a state of emergency.”

Australian Government Climate Change Adviser Professor Ross Garnaut was ordered by the Federal Government to model projections on 450-550 ppm CO₂ in the atmosphere. He completely ignored major matters e.g. the true cost of coal-based power is 4-5 times the Market cost; 5,000 Australian side each year from coal burning pollutants; Australia’s fossil fuel-derived Exported CO₂ pollution exceeds the Domestic pollution; Australia is one of the World’s worst Greenhouse gas polluters; indeed Garnaut ignored TWO THIRDS of Australia’s greenhouse gas pollution sources (see: http://sites.google.com/site/yarravalleyclimateactiongroup/critical-scientific-review-of-badly-flawed-australian-garnaut-climate-change-review ).

Garnaut has now made his final disastrous recommendation of a "10% cut on 2000 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2020"

Summarized below are the quoted views of 3 of Australia's top climate scientists (all on the Nobel Prize-winning IPCC) about Australian Government Climate Change Adviser Professor Garnaut’s 2008 advice of “10% decrease on 2000 GHG level by 2020” (see: http://sites.google.com/site/yarravalleyclimateactiongroup/what-top-australian-climate-experts-say-about-garnauts-final-recommendation ):

Professor David Karoly: “I would anticipate the Government would take an even weaker approach than Garnaut, which is going to essentially be no change whatsoever.”

Dr Bill Hare said that the Garnaut recommendations would devastate ecosystems across the planet: “Ross Garnaut's report is effectively putting off the cost of climate change to another generation, who will have to deal with a three-degree rise in temperature as well as sucking carbon dioxide out of the air … It has failed to face up to this risk issue.”

Professor Amanda Lynch: "I think they will take it as another piece of evidence that Australia is not really interested in walking the walk …How much is it worth to us to have a Great Barrier Reef? How much is it worth to us to be self-sufficient in food?."

Data from the official US Energy Information Administration tells us what the Garnaut Recommendation and what it actually means - an over 50% INCREASE by 2020 in Australia’s total Domestic plus Exported fossil fuel-derived CO₂ pollution.

All testament to Australian “failure” over Climate Change – the only “success” has been for Lib-Lab politicians, corporations, investors and workers benefiting from CO₂ pollution.

[The US EIA comparative data for "total annual fossil fuel-derived CO₂ pollution"(tonnes CO₂per person per year) in 2005 for some key Regions and Countries:

North America (16.1), Central and South America (2.5), Europe (7.9), Eurasia (9.0), Middle East (7.9), Africa (1.2), Asia and Oceania (1.6), the World (4.1) - as compared to Australia (20.2 or 42.3 if our Exported CO₂ pollution is included), the US (20.1), Canada (19.2), Russia (11.9), Germany and South Korea (10.2), Japan (9.7), Spain and South Africa (9.6), New Zealand (9.4), Italy (8.0), the UK (7.9), Poland (7.4), Ukraine (7.3), Iran (7.0), France (6.6), Malaysia and Sweden (6.5), Venezuela (6.0), China (4.1), Mexico (3.8), Argentina (3.7), Turkey (3.3), Thailand (3.0), Egypt (2.1), Brazil (1.9), Fiji (1.5), India (1.1), Philippines (0.9), Nigeria and Pakistan (0.8), Kiribati and Bangladesh (0.3). [The special cases of oil-rich desert states are Bahrain (36.6), Kuwait (32.8), Qatar 61.9), Saudi Arabia (15.6) and United Arab Emirates (33.7)] (see: http://sites.google.com/site/yarravalleyclimateactiongroup/what-top-australian-climate-experts-say-about-garnauts-final-recommendation ).

Australia’s fossil fuel-derived Domestic and Exported CO₂ pollution is now about 10 times that of China and the World average, 40 times that of India and 140 times that of Bangladesh and Kiribati (both already drowning due to Climate Change).

IN SUMMARY, is Australia pulling its weight in the Climate Emergency? No.

Does Australia have any evident intention of tackling the Climate Emergency? No.

Australia has comprehensively failed on Climate Change.

Australia has been involved in all post-1950 US Asian Wars that have been associated with 25 million Indigenous Asian avoidable deaths.

Australia is still involved in the Iraqi Genocide and the Afghan Genocide – indeed the avoidable death associated with the Bush I and Bush II wars now total 9-11 million..

In terms of human, national and global devastation Australia has comprehensively failed in War and Climate Change.

For detailed , documented and carefully researched Climate Emergency Fact Sheets put on the Web by the Yarra Valley Climate Action Group (including many U3A members) see: http://sites.google.com/site/yarravalleyclimateactiongroup/system/app/pages/sitemap/hierarchy and http://sites.google.com/site/yarravalleyclimateactiongroup/Home ).

Rudd Australia Report Card #3. Australian complicity in continuing Afghan genocide

2008-01-15T13:24:00.000-08:00

Rudd Australia Report Card #3. Australian complicity in continuing Afghan Genocide

Preamble

The Australian Government under PM Rudd was sworn in on Monday 3 December, 2007 – Day 1 of Rudd Australia. Kevin Rudd has made it clear that he favours “measurement-based policy” and “evidence-based policy” and has further asked his colleagues to give him Report Cards on progress.

I applaud this approach as a senior scientist committed to rational risk management that successively involves (a) accurate data, (b) scientific analysis and (c) systemic change to minimize risk (for a detailed. Expert exposition see Professor James Reason, “Human error: models and management”, British Medical Journal, vol. 320, 768-770, 2000: http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/320/7237/768 . Indeed as a responsible public service I have committed a lot of time and effort to informing governments, media and fellow citizens about important matters.

Dated 19 December 2007, this is the THIRD of a series of carefully researched and edited “Rudd Australia Report Cards” that I will be sending to the Rudd Government and to media and fellow citizens (see Rudd Australia Report Card #1 Continued Australian and US Coalition war crimes in Occupied Iraq: http://ruddaustraliareportcard.blogspot.com/2008/01/rudd-australia-report-card-1-continued.html and Rudd Australia Report Card #2 Climate criminal Australia and climate genocide: http://ruddaustraliareportcard.blogspot.com/2008/01/rudd-australia-report-card-2-climate.html . I am very happy for anyone to re-publish these “Rudd Australia Report Cards” with attribution in the interests of Australia and Humanity.

Post-invasion NON-VIOLENT excess deaths in Occupied Afghanistan - a month on from the 6th anniversary of the war criminal US invasion and occupation on 7th October 2001 – totalled an estimated 3.2 million. However comparisons with Occupied Iraq (1.5-2 million TOTAL post-invasion excess deaths, and 0.8-1.2 million or about 50% of these being VIOLENT deaths) suggest that the post-invasion VIOLENT excess deaths in Occupied Afghanistan could total 3 million and accordingly that TOTAL post-invasion Afghan excess deaths could be as high as 6 million. In addition, to 3-6 million post-invasion Afghan excess deaths in the Occupied Afghan Territories, post-invasion under-5 infant deaths total 2.2 million and refugees total 4 million (2005 population: 27 million) (for a detailed, documented analysis see “US Alliance Afghan Genoicde – Six million excess deaths?”: http://www.countercurrents.org/polya081107.htm ).

AUSTRALIA is clearly COMPLICIT in an Afghan Holocaust that also constitutes an Afghan Genocide as defined by Article 2 of the UN Genocide Convention (see: http://www.geocities.com/englishgateway/genocide.html ) : "In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such: (a) Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; "(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group."

AUSTRALIA is part of a war criminal US Alliance that only permits a “total annual per capita medical expenditure” in Occupied Afghanistan of US$19 (2004; see World Health Organization, WHO: http://www.who.int/en/ ) – as compared to $135 (Occupied Iraq), $2,560 (Occupier UK), $3,123 (Occupier Australia), $3,173 (Occupier Canada) and $6,096 (Occupier US).

In this context it is important to note that of 6 million Jews who died in the horrendous Jewish Holocaust in World War 2 an estimated 1 million died avoidably (non-violently) from deprivation as opposed to being violently killed (see Gilbert, M. (1969), Jewish History Atlas (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London);

Gilbert, M. (1982), Atlas of the Holocaust (Michael Joseph, London); “Body Count. Global avoidable mortality since 1950” (G.M. Polya, Melbourne, 2007: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/1375/247/ and http://globalbodycount.blogspot.com/ )).

AUSTRALIA is involved in WAR CRIMES in Occupied Afghanistan due to resolute, sustained, deliberate, intentional non-supply of life-sustaining requisites unequivocally demanded of Occupiers by Articles 55 and 56 in particular of the Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (see: http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/instree/y4gcpcp.htm ):

Article 55

To the fullest extent of the means available to it the Occupying Power has the duty of ensuring the food and medical supplies of the population; it should, in particular, bring in the necessary foodstuffs, medical stores and other articles if the resources of the occupied territory are inadequate.

The Occupying Power may not requisition foodstuffs, articles or medical supplies available in the occupied territory, except for use by the occupation forces and administration personnel, and then only if the requirements of the civilian population have been taken into account. Subject to the provisions of other international Conventions, the Occupying Power shall make arrangements to ensure that fair value is paid for any requisitioned goods.

The Protecting Power shall, at any time, be at liberty to verify the state of the food and medical supplies in occupied territories, except where temporary restrictions are made necessary by imperative military requirements.

Article 56

To the fullest extent of the means available to it, the Occupying Power has the duty of ensuring and maintaining, with the cooperation of national and local authorities, the medical and hospital establishments and services, public health and hygiene in the occupied territory, with particular reference to the adoption and application of the prophylactic and preventive measures necessary to combat the spread of contagious diseases and epidemics. Medical personnel of all categories shall be allowed to carry out their duties.

If new hospitals are set up in occupied territory and if the competent organs of the occupied State are not operating there, the occupying authorities shall, if necessary, grant them the recognition provided for in Article 18. In similar circumstances, the occupying authorities shall also grant recognition to hospital personnel and transport vehicles under the provisions of Articles 20 and 21.

In adopting measures of health and hygiene and in their implementation, the Occupying Power shall take into consideration the moral and ethical susceptibilities of the population of the occupied territory.

Those directly responsible for these huge crimes are the Mainstream media and politicians of White Australia – our citizens in general and our defence personnel in particular are ethical and responsible but essentially all Australian citizens and voters are being cruelly deceived by racist, lying Mainstream media and politicians.

DETAILED ANALYSIS

The racist, war criminal US military state that they “don’t do body counts” of Indigenous victims but publicly-accessible UN demographic data allow us to ESTIMATE the carnage as outlined systematically below.

1. Post-invasion non-violent Afghan excess deaths total 3.2 million

Consult UNICEF (see: http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/afghanistan_statistics.html ) and you will find the estimate that 370,000 under-5 year old infants die each year in Occupied Afghanistan. From an exhaustive country-by-country analysis of excess death (avoidable death, death that should not have happened) it can be determined that for impoverished, worst case Third world countries the under-5 infant deaths are about 0.7 of total non-violent excess deaths (see “A Layperson’s Guide to counting Iraq deaths”: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/5872/26/ ). Accordingly we can estimate that total post-invasion non-violent excess deaths in Occupied Afghanistan after 6.1 years of war total 370,000 x 6.1 / 0.7 = 3.2 million.

2. Post-invasion violent Afghan excess deaths estimated at 3 million

Assuming roughly 1 violent death for every non-violent avoidable death (roughly as in US-occupied Occupied Iraq where the ratio of violent deaths to non-violent excess deaths is 0.8-1.2 million to 0.7-0.8 million; see below) yields an estimate of post-invasion VIOLENT excess deaths in Occupied Afghanistan of 3.2 million or roughly 3 million.

3. Total post-invasion total violent and non violent Afghan excess deaths total 3-6 million

From the data in #1 and #2, the total violent and non-violent post-invasion excess deaths in Occupied Afghanistan total 3.2 million + 3.2 million = 6.4 million excess deaths - more than the number of Jews who died in the World War 2 Jewish Holocaust (6 million) or the number of Bengalis who died in the man-made, WW2 Bengali Holocaust, the WW2 Bengal Famine in British-ruled India (4 million victims; accompanied by horrendous civilian and military sexual abuse of starving women and girls; associated with a 1940s demographic deficit of over 10 million in Bengal; possibly due to a deliberate British “scorched earth policy” to prevent Japanese invasion of India; and rubbed out of British history books) (see “Jane Austen and the Black Hole of British History. Colonial rapacity, holocaust denial and the crisis in biological sustainability”: http://janeaustenand.blogspot.com/ and Mason, C. (2000), A Short History of Asia. Stone Age to 2000AD (Macmillan, London)).

Because the war criminal Americans “don’t do body counts” we can conservatively estimate TOTAL post-invasion total violent and non violent Afghan excess deaths as above at 3-6 million.

Occupied Afghanistan is indeed the 21st century Auschwitz of the racist, war criminal US Alliance countries – the US, the UK, Australia, Canada, Japan and NATO countries such as France and Germany are complicit in these estimated 3-6 million post-invasion violent and non-violent excess Occupied Afghan deaths.

4. US Alliance and Australian complicity in 2.0 million avoidable Occupied Afghan post-invasion under-5 infant deaths

Consult UNICEF (see: http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/afghanistan_statistics.html ) and you will find the estimate that 370,000 under-5 year old infants die each year in Occupied Afghanistan and that post-invasion under-5 infant deaths total 6 x 0.37 million = 2.2 million . Of these infant deaths 90% - i.e. 2 million - can be estimated to be avoidable and due to US Alliance war crimes as outlined in the Preamble above).

5. Occupied Afghanistan refugees total about 4 million

The latest estimates from UNHCR are that there are about 3 million external Afghan refugees (see: http://www.unhcr.org/home/PUBL/474ac8e00.pdf ); in 2001 there were 2 million “internal refugees” (see: http://wwww.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/VBOL-6DUHNY?OpenDocument ) . Assuming 50% post-2001 rehabilitation of internal refugees, one obtains an estimate of about 4 million Afghan refugees in total.

6. Horrendous Occupied Afghan perinatal maternal deaths (3 per hour) and infant deaths (1 per minute) – can Australian WOMEN ignore this?

The following estimates are updated from “American war crimes. Mass murder of Afghan women & children” (see: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/12741/42/ ), the primary data deriving from the latest UNICEF data for Afghanistan (see: http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/afghanistan.html ) :

Annual births (2005): 1,441,000;

Annual under-5 infant deaths (2005): 370,000;

Population (2005): 29,863,000;

Population under-5 (2005): 5,535,000;

Annual under-5 death rate 6.68%;

Under-5 infant deaths over 6.1 years of occupation: 2.2 million;

Avoidable under-5 infant deaths: 90% of 2.2 million = 2.0 million.

The Maternal Mortality Ratio is the annual number of deaths of women from pregnancy-related causes per 100,000 live births. The “Reported” column figures from UNICEF show country Reported figures that are not adjusted for underreporting and misclassification; the Adjusted Maternal Mortality Ratio values are adjusted for such underreporting and misclassification:

Reported Maternal Mortality Ratio (2000): 1,600 per 100,000 live births;

Adjusted Maternal Mortality Ratio (2000): 1,900 per 100,000 live births;

Annual Maternal Deaths: 1,600 x 1,441,000/100,000 = 23,056

Adjusted Maternal Deaths: 1,900 x 1,441,000/100,000 = 27,379

A Maternal Mortality rate of 27,379/year means 75/day or 3.1/hour.

An under-5 infant death rate of 370,000/year means 1014/day or 42 per hour or nearly one infant dying every minute.

7. Occupied Iraq post-invasion excess deaths, under-5 infant deaths and refugees total 1.5-3 million, 0.6 million and 4.5 million, respectively

The following estimates are discussed and documented in detail in “Rudd Australia Report Card #1 Continued Australian and US Coalition war crimes in Occupied Iraq” : http://open.newmatilda.com/crosswire/?p=142 .

Recent authoritative estimates of violence-related post-invasion excess deaths in occupied Iraq are of 1.2 million (from the expert UK ORB polling company) and 0.8 million (from the top US Bloomberg School of Public Health group at Johns Hopkins University who estimated 0.6 million violent deaths as of July 2006).

Authoritative estimates of non-violent post-invasion excess deaths in Occupied Iraq as of November 2007 are of 0.7 million (from the latest UN Population Division data) and of 0.8 million (calculated from United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, data on post-invasion under-5 year old infant deaths; for impoverished Third World countries the under-5 infant deaths are about 0.7 of the total excess deaths, as described in “A Layperson’s Guide to counting Iraq deaths”: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/5872/26/ ).

From this one can estimate total post-invasion violent and non-violent occupied Iraqi excess deaths and these clearly range from 0.7 million + 0.8 million = 1.5 million (minimum estimate) to 0.8 million + 1.2 million = 2.0 million (upper estimate) (see “Iraq: Genocide by all definition. Bush’s Iraq War. 2 million Iraqi excess deaths”: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/17066/42/ ).

UNHCR estimates that there are currently about 4.5 million Iraqi refugees (see: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/10/23/news/UN-GEN-UN-Iraq-Refugees.php )

8. Post-invasion excess deaths in the Occupied Iraqi and Afghan Territories total 4.5-8.4 million, about 5-8 million

Adding the data in #3 and #7 indicate excess deaths in Occupied Iraqi and Afghan Territories totalling 4.5-8.4 million i.e. roughly 5-8 million - but this of course is NOT reported by racist, lying, holocaust-ignoring Australian or Western mainstream media or politicians of the Western Murdochracies.

9. The BIG PICTURE: Australian complicity in 11 million excess deaths in the Bush I plus Bush II US Asian wars

The estimate in #8 climbs steeply if we add the retrospectively Bush I- and Bush II-complicit excess deaths in Israel’s US-backed wars and occupations of Lebanon (1978-2007; 70,000) and of the Occupied Palestinian Territories (1967-2007; 0.31 million); the US Gulf War (1990-1991; 0.2 million); the US Sanctions War (1990-2003; 1.7 million); and the about 0.5 million who have died avoidably since 9/11 from opiate drug-related causes due to the UK-US restoration of the Taliban-destroyed Afghan opium industry from about 5% of world market share in 2001 to a current 93% (see UN Office on Drugs and Crime, UNODC, 2007 World Drug Report: http://www.unodc.org/unodc/world_drug_report.html and “United State Terrorism. 8 million deaths & media holocaust denial”: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/17139/42/ ) -. all of this yielding 2.8 million excess deaths, which plus 8.4 million excess deaths for post-invasion Occupied Iraq and Occupied Afghanistan yields an estimate of 11.2 million excess deaths associated with the Bush Asian Wars.

10. The even BIGGER PICTURE: Australian complicity in 25 million excess deaths in post-1950 US Asian wars

Australia is a loyal lackey of the US and has participated in all post-1950 US Asian wars. Indigenous Asian excess deaths in the various wars total 1 million (Korea), 13 million (Indo-China) and 11.2 million (the Bush I plus Bush II Asian Wars) yielding a total of 25.2 million or about 25 million. This horrendous death toll is roughly equivalent to excess deaths due to the Nazis in their occupation of Poland (6 million) and the Soviet Union (20 million) in World War 2 (total excess deaths in these 2 countries 26 million).

A major cause of the NON-violent deaths is gross Occupier violation of the Geneva Convention that demands unequivocally that an Occupier “to the fullest extent of the means available to it” supplies life-sustaining medical and food requisites to its conquered subjects (see Articles 55 and 56 of the Geneva Convention relative to the protection of civilian persons in time of war: http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/92.htm ). Consult WHO (see: http://www.who.int/en/ ) and you will discover that the “annual total per capita medical expenditure” permitted in Occupied Iraq by the US Coalition is $135 (2004) as compared to $19 (Occupied Afghanistan), $2,560 (UK), $3,123 (Australia) and $6,096 (the US) (see: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/17139/42/ ).

It gets worse. I am currently working with a fellow Australian academic on a book project about the wider global impact of the Iraq War. In short, 16 million people die avoidably each year (9.6 million of them under-5 year old infants) due to deprivation and deprivation-exacerbated disease (see “Body Count. Global avoidable mortality since 1950” (G.M. Polya, Melbourne, 2007: http://globalbodycount.blogspot.com/ and http://mwcnews.net/content/view/1375/247/ ). The accrual cost of the 21st century part of the Bush Wars has been estimated at $2.5 trillion by the US 2001 Economics Nobel Laureate Professor Joseph Stiglitz (Columbia) and his Harvard colleague Professor Linda Bilmes (see “Iraq: the hidden cost of the War”: http://www.newstatesman.com/200703120024 and “The Cost of War”: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/13099/26/ ). This horrendous distortion translates into huge avoidable infant deaths in the US alone (an estimated 160,000 such under-5 year old avoidable American infant deaths in 8 years of the Bush II Administration).

There has clearly also been a big distortion by the Bush War on Terror in relation to matters such as global militarization, foreign aid, Third World debt relief, increased oil prices, biofuel expansion, decreased global food, increased global food prices, and failure to address global warming – all of these areas contributing to16 million global avoidable deaths each year on Spaceship Earth with the First World in charge of the flight deck and Bush II at the controls.

Australia’s appalling position as the world’s #1 developed country in terms of “annual per capita CO2 pollution” (in 2004 40 tonnes per person per year as compared to 4.2 (the World), 4 (China), 1 (India) and 0.25 (Bangladesh) already makes Australia heavily complicit in ongoing climate genocide (see: Rudd Australia Report Card #2 Climate criminal Australia and climate genocide: http://open.newmatilda.com/crosswire/?p=143 ).

11. History ignored yields history repeated, genocide ignored yields genocide repeated, silence kills and silence is complicity & 9/11 LIES

People such as myself with family members killed in the Jewish Holocaust are absolutely OBLIGED to speak out about horrendous abuses of humanity. We regard the primary messages from the Jewish Holocaust as zero tolerance for racism and human rights abuse. History ignored yields history repeated, genocide ignored yields genocide repeated. Peace is the only way but silence kills and silence is complicity – we MUST speak out.

Holocaust ignoring by Mainstream media and politicians has allowed continuation of the Palestinian Genocide, the Iraqi Genocide and the Afghan Genocide – post-invasion excess deaths 0.3 million, 1.5-2 million and 3-6 million, respectively; post-invasion under-5 infant deaths 0.2 million, 0.6 million and 2.2 million, respectively; refugees totalling 7 million, 4.5 million and 4 million, respectively, out of (2005) populations of 3.8 million, 27 million and 26 million, respectively.

Indeed similar lying by omission allowed Australian complicity in the Bougainville Genocide (an upper estimate 15,000 deaths out of a population of about 150,000 people) and the continuing Australian Aboriginal Genocide (9,000 Indigenous Australian avoidable deaths annually; 90,000 avoidable Indigenous Australian deaths during the 11 years of the Coalition Government) (see: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/15960/42/ , http://mwcnews.net/content/view/10865/26/ and http://mwcnews.net/content/view/12578/42/ ).

I am assured by a top Japanese scholar that his Japanese colleagues overwhelmingly agree that the US forced war criminal, militarist Japan into war and deliberately permitted Pearl Harbor to happen.

The ostensible excuse for the invasion of Afghanistan was 9/11 – and yet NO Afghans were involved even on the admissions of the Bush Administration. Top European officials with close intelligence links have made it quite clear that they reject the “official 9/11 story” of the egregiously dishonest and corrupt Bush Administration. Thus the US “Scholars for 9/11 Truth” (see: http://st911.org/ ) adduce a mass of technical evidence consistent with explosive demolition of the twin Towers and the WTC7 building and hence with US involvement.

Top German politician, former Defence Minister and head of the German Secret Service, Andreas von Bulow has listed the following causes of 9/11 (his views in parentheses): (1) out of the blue terrorist attack (Bush Story #1; very implausible); (2) terrorist attack enabled by extraordinary and comprehensive FBI, CIA, USAF incompetence (Bush Story #2; very implausible); (3) attack carried out, like Pearl Harbor, with passive US complicity (i.e. the US Government allowed it to happen; more likely); and (4) an inside job involving US Government elements and /or US surrogates (e.g. the Israelis) (most likely – and consistent with the extraordinary attempts of the US Government to prevent the truth of 9/11 emerging) (see: http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/april2006/210406runattack.htm ).

General Leonid Ivashov, Chief of Staff of the Russian Armed Forces has stated, like Andreas von Bulow, that 9/11 required the expert involvement of a major intelligence agency (see: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=NIM20060123&articleId=1788 ) , this being utterly inconsistent with the Bush Administration “men in caves” scenarios (#1-#3 above).

In November 2007, the former 7-year-term Italian President Francesco Cossiga, law professor, Italian senator for life and major intelligence insider (close involvement on setting up the NATO Gladio terrorist organization) stated in an interview with the leading Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera that (a) the US CIA and Israeli Mossad did 9/11 and (b) major intelligence services were well aware of this (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesco_Cossiga and http://mwcnews.net/content/view/18569/26/ ).

As discussed in great detail in Rudd Australia Report Card #1 Continued Australian and US Coalition war crimes in Occupied Iraq: http://open.newmatilda.com/crosswire/?p=142 , the expert judgement about the real reasons for the Iraq Invasion are for oil and strategic hegemony. However we were LIED to by the Bush-ites with utterly false claims about Iraqi responsibility for 9/11, Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction etc.

Notwithstanding the finding by a US National Intelligence Estimate, that represents the consensus view of all 16 American spy agencies, that Iran stopped any plans for developing nuclear weapons in 2003 (see: http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/12/03/america/cia.php ) , Racist Zionist-beholden Bush America and Racist Zionist-run Apartheid Israel are STILL threatening to devastate remote, peaceful, non-invading, non-occupying, non-threatening, non-nuclear armed, theocratically-dominated democratic Iran (population 70 million, half of them children and three quarters Women and Children).

12. What can Australia and the world do?

One hopes that the above statistics might SHAME Rudd Australia into dissociating itself completely from both the Iraqi Genocide and the Afghan Genocide.

Australia’s continuing racist and genocidal involvements in both the Iraqi Genocide and the Afghan Genocide invite Sanctions and Boycotts as were successfully applied to the racist but non-genocidal Apartheid South African régime.

Perhaps the best advice about how the World can stop these proto-Nazi, anti-Arab anti-Semitic, Islamophobic, racist, Bush-ite war-mongers is that given by outstanding, conservative American economist, writer, editor, academic and “Father of Reaganomics” Dr Paul Craig Roberts (see: http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts02122007.html ), QUOTE :

“Dump the Dollar! How the World can stop Bush … If the rest of the world would simply stop purchasing US Treasuries, and instead dump their surplus dollars into the foreign exchange market, the Bush Regime would be overwhelmed with economic crisis and unable to wage war ...The demise of the US dollar is only a question of time. It would save the world from war and devastation if the dollar is brought to its demise before the Bush Regime launches its planned attack on Iran.”

and (from Paul Craig Roberts “The Iraqi Genocide”: http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts10162007.html ),

“The Iraqi Genocide … When the US dollar loses its reserve currency status, the US empire will come to an abrupt end. Sooner or later the rest of the world will realize this and, in an act of self-protection, dethrone the dollar.”

SUMMARY

Post-invasion NON-VIOLENT excess deaths in Occupied Afghanistan - a month on from the 6th anniversary of the war criminal US invasion and occupation on 7th October 2001 –totalled an estimated 3.2 million. However comparisons with Occupied Iraq (1.5-2 million TOTAL post-invasion excess deaths, and 0.8-1.2 million, or about 50% of total deaths, being VIOLENT deaths) suggest that the post-invasion VIOLENT excess deaths in Occupied Afghanistan could total 3 million and accordingly that TOTAL post-invasion Afghan excess deaths could be as high as 6 million. In addition to 3-6 million post-invasion Afghan excess deaths in the Occupied Afghan Territories, post-invasion under-5 infant deaths total 2.2 million and refugees total 4 million (2005 population: 27 million).

Holocaust ignoring and lying by omission by Mainstream media and politicians has allowed continuation of Rudd Australia involvement in various ways in the continuing Palestinian Genocide, the Iraqi Genocide and the Afghan Genocide – post-invasion excess deaths 0.3 million, 1.5-2 million and 3-6 million, respectively; post-invasion under-5 infant deaths 0.2 million, 0.6 million and 2.2 million, respectively; and refugees totalling 7 million, 4.5 million and 4 million, respectively, out of (2005) populations of 3.8 million, 27 million and 26 million, respectively.

Peace is the only way but silence kills and silence is complicity. One hopes that the above statistics might SHAME Rudd Australia into dissociating itself completely from both the Iraqi Genocide and the Afghan Genocide. Australia’s continuing racist and genocidal involvements in both the Iraqi Genocide and the Afghan Genocide invite Sanctions and Boycotts as were successfully applied to the racist but non-genocidal Apartheid South African régime.

This was written in the public interest.

Dr Gideon Polya

Melbourne, Australia

Dr Gideon Polya published some 130 works in a 4 decade scientific career, most recently a huge pharmacological reference text "Biochemical Targets of Plant Bioactive Compounds" (CRC Press/Taylor & Francis, New York & London, 2003). He has just published “Body Count. Global avoidable mortality since 1950” (G.M. Polya, Melbourne, 2007: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/1375/247/ and http://globalbodycount.blogspot.com/ ).

PS Words having evidently failed I am painting (and exhibiting around the world) HUGE paintings for Peace and Respect for Mother and Child: Deep Mind: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/17895/42/ ; Genes and Memes: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/18122/42/ (both of these relating to Mind and Humanism), Apocalypse Now (see: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/17652/42/ ), Jerusalem Madonna (Muslim, Renaissance Italian, Byzantine Orthodox, aboriginal, abstract expressionist fusion): http://mwcnews.net/content/view/17194/42/ , Manhattan Madonna ( a memorial for 9/11) : http://mwcnews.net/content/view/10766/26/ , Rosanna Madonna: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/16627/42/ , Scheherazade (for Women’s Rights) : http://mwcnews.net/content/view/16294/42 / , Sydney Madonna (for Mother and Child and Indigenous Rights) : http://mwcnews.net/content/view/10865/26/ , Truelove: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/11031/254/ , Melbourne Madonna: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/13950/26/ , Qana (inspired by Pablo Picasso’s anti-war masterpiece “Guernica”: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/9547/26/ , Isfahan Matisse: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/14417/26/ , Alhambra Pollock: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/14082/42/ , Terra: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/15671/42/ and Bundoora Arabesque: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/15960/42/ .

Rudd Australia Report Card #2. Climate Criminal Australia and climate genocide

2008-01-15T12:06:00.000-08:00

A new Australian Government under PM Rudd was sworn in on Monday 3 December, 2007 – Day 1 of Rudd Australia. PM Kevin Rudd has made it clear that he favors “measurement-based policy” and “evidence-based policy” and has further asked his colleagues to give him Report Cards on progress.

I applaud this approach as a senior scientist committed to rational risk management that successively involves (a) accurate data, (b) scientific analysis and (c) systemic change to minimize risk (for a detailed, expert exposition see Professor James Reason, “Human error: models and management”, British Medical Journal, vol. 320, 768-770, 2000: http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/320/7237/768 ). Indeed as a responsible pubIic service I have committed a lot of time and effort to informing governments, media and fellow citizens about important matters, of which Australia’s involvement in the ongoing Aboriginal Genocide, Iraqi Genocide, Afghan Genocide and Climate Genocide are the most critically important.

Dated 4 December 2007, Day #2 and week #1 of the Rudd Government, Rudd Australia Report Card #1 is the first of a series of carefully researched and edited “Rudd Australia Report Cards” that I will be sending to the Rudd Government and to media and fellow citizens. “Rudd Australia Report Card #1. Continued Australian and US Coalition war crimes in Occupied Iraq” has been published: http://ruddaustraliareportcard.blogspot.com/2008/01/rudd-australia-report-card-1-continued.html .

BELOW is “Rudd Australia Report Card #2. Climate criminal Australia and climate genocide”

I am very happy for anyone to re-publish these “Rudd Australia Report Cards” with attribution in the interests of Australia and Humanity.

Rudd Australia Report Card #2. Climate criminal Australia and climate genocide

Background

The world is facing a potential catastrophe due successively to industrial profligacy, greenhouse gas pollution, global warming and declining per capita sustainable resources. This potential problem of environmental pollution and impacts on biological sustainability has been familiar to scientists since the 19th century research of John Tyndall; was addressed by the Club of Rome in circa 1970; and which was further addressed by successive Assessment Reports of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change since 1990 (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intergovernmental_Panel_on_Climate_Change ).

As a chemistry-based scientist for 4 decades, I was aware of the finiteness of the atmosphere, the oceans, arable land and fossil fuel reserves from the start of my career. I was made aware of the mounting atmospheric problems back in 1972 as a Queen Elizabeth II Fellow in the department of one of Australia’s top hydrologists and biophysicists who later went on to be Chief Scientist of Australia.

In 1998 I published a book entitled “Jane Austen and the Black Hole of British History. Colonial rapacity, holocaust denial and the crisis in biological sustainability” (see: http://janeaustenand.blogspot.com/ ). In short, I argued that history ignored yields history repeated, holocaust ignored yields holocaust repeated and that the ignoring of successive Bengali Holocausts under the British - the 1769-1770 Bengal Famine (10 million deaths) and the 1943-1944 Bengal Famine (4 million deaths) - will permit a horrendous disaster in the 21st century due to industrial profligacy, man-made global warming and destructive inundation of mega-deltaic Bengal. My predictions of holocaust ignoring and irresponsible industrial profligacy are already being realized – recently formerly densely populated Bengali islands permanently disappeared under the waves, and the last major Bay of Bengal hurricane was the worst for several decades.

Climate change is already contributing to the 16 million avoidable deaths (about 9.6 million of under-5 year old infants) that occur each year on Spaceship Earth with the profligate First World in charge of the flight deck (see “Body Count. Global avoidable mortality since 1950”, G.M. Polya, Melbourne, 2007: http://janeaustenand.blogspot.com/ ). Worse is yet to come due to decline in agricultural sustainability, potable water, fisheries, and even safe living space for mega-delta communities subject to sea level rise, storm surges and salinization.

A must-read document for policy makers is the 2007 “Summary for Policymakers of the Synthesis Report of the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report (AR4)” (for a Summary of the Summary see: http://green-blog.org/ and

http://green-blog.org/2007/11/21/summary-of-the-summary-of-the-2007-ipcc-ar4-synthesis-report/ . Sir Nicholas Stern his authoritative Stern report on the economics of climate change states that it will be cheaper to act now rather than later. In a recent lecture Sir Nicholas Stern "For $10-15bn (£4.8-7.2bn) per year, a programme could be constructed that could stop up to half the deforestation” (which contributes 10-15% of greenhouse pollution) and after describing climate change as the world’s worst market failure, he says that there must be an 80% reduction in rich nations' greenhouse gas pollution by 2050 if the world is to avoid "destructive" consequences of global warming (see: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/nov/30/climatechange.carbonemissions ).

Indeed the draft recommendation at the December 2007 Bali Conference is for a developed country 25-40% reduction on 1990 levels of greenhouse gas pollution by 2020 – a position opposed by climate criminal countries the US, Canada, Japan and Rudd Australia (see:

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22910382-5013871,00.html ).

Unfortunately Rudd Labor, while having secured an urgently needed victory in the elections over the greenhouse sceptic and greenhouse unresponsive Bush-ite Coalition, is simply not green enough (see: link ). While Rudd Labor has ratified Kyoto, it is using the sensible need for “evidence before policy change” as an EXCUSE not to commit to short-term greenhouse reduction targets until the final form of the Garnaut Report in late 2008. With due respect to Professor Garnaut and his Report-in-Progress we ALREADY have the Stern Report (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stern_Review ) and the 2007 IPCC Fourth Assessment Report (see: http://www.ipcc.ch/ ).

PM Rudd has stated that before making a decision on short term targets his Government needs to have the “facts”. Well, the World has had the “facts” for a dozen years and what follows is a scientist’s assessment of the “facts” drawn from authoritative American and European technical sources. Unfortunately in the Australian Murdochracy, the politically correct racist (PC racist) Land of Lies and Flies, Australia’s world #1 coal exports that contribute over 50% of Australia’s total annual greenhouse gas pollution are not even a matter for public discussion (except for the ethical and responsible Australian Greens) (for how a mature society regards the matter see George Monbiot’s “The real answer to climate change is to leave fossil fuels in the ground”: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2225387,00.html ).

Indeed any specifically “economic impact” research by the Garnaut Report (aka “Rudd’s Excuse for Inaction”) will be instantly trashed if the Rest of the World (i.e. other than the US-Australia-Canada-Japan quartet opposing 25-40% reduction by 2020) decide officially or unofficially to impose Sanctions, Boycotts or Green Tariffs on the goods and services of climate criminal countries.

Here are some “facts” from authoritative sources that are apparent NOW – they do not need a further year of “research” for discovery.

1. Committed Rudd Labor Policy is effective Climate Racism from a per capita CO2 pollution standpoint

In the recent election campaign Rudd committed to “20% renewables by 2020”, “”60% reduction on 2000 greenhouse gas pollution by 2050” and no constraint on fossil fuel extraction for export. What this ACTUALLY means (based on US Energy Information Administration data, assuming current constant coal, gas and CO2 pollution growth rates, constant population and including Australia’s fossil fuel EXPORTS) is the following pattern of “total annual per capita fossil fuel-derived CO2 emission in tonnes per person per year” (i.e. “Total Annual Per Capita Pollution” or TAPCP) of 43 (2007), 56 (2020) and 65 (2050).

If Australia agrees to “25% reduction on 1990 domestic levels by 2020” this will mean a TAPCP of 44 (2020); a 40% reduction would mean 42. These values are about 10 times greater than the “Annual Per Capita Pollution” (APCP) value (2004) for the World (4.2) and China (3.6), about 40 times greater than for India (1) and 160 times greater than for Bangladesh (0.25).

Australia’s APCP is already 10 times that of China’s 2004 value and Rudd Labor’s “do nothing, set up a committee” approach means a startling continuation in 2008 of Labor’s 2007 5-fold greater version of the racist Labor Immigration Minister Arthur Calwell’s notorious 1947 declaration: “Two Wongs do not make a White” (see: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/17999/42/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Calwell ) – indeed on the above figures, assuming that China keeps its 2050 APCP to something like 2004 figure, Rudd Labor, for all its ostensible Philosinensis (indeed Arthur Calwell had Chinese friends and spoke Mandarin) is heading for a 2050 APCP (65.2) 18 times that of China’s 2004 value (3.6).

2. Professor Garnaut’s “all men are created equal” position (December 2007)

Professor Garnaut (ABC, Lateline, 10 December 2007) stated: (from my notes): “Australia will be pulling its full weight”. “Pulling its full weight” means (if one accepts “all men are created equal” ) that Australia achieves APCP parity with the rest of the world – something that Rudd Labor absolutely refuses to do (see #1). One hopes that the finalized Garnaut Report in late 2008 is able to convince Rudd Labor to eschew the Climate Racism of APCP non-parity.

3. Australian Greens policy consonant with non-Bush-ite “Rest of the World” consensus

The Australian Greens policy is to rapidly phase out fossil fuel extraction and to have an “80% reduction of greenhouse gas pollution by 2050”. This yields an APCP of 2.4 in 2050 and consonant both with the IPCC and Stern 2007 demands for “80% reduction on 1990 levels by 2050”, “Pulling its full weight” (Professor Garnaut, 2007) and “all men are created equal” (Thomas Jefferson, American Declaration of Independence, 1776).

4. US Energy Information Administration data and the climate criminal Bush-ite Coalition legacy

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA; see: http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/country/index.cfm ) provides very detailed information about energy usage by all countries of the world for the last 10 years. Back in 1997 the decent world was so concerned about mounting evidence for anthropogenic, greenhouse gas-driven, climate change that it signed on to the Kyoto Protocol. Not only did climate criminal Australia (together with climate criminal US) not sign the Kyoto Protocol, but Australia’s “annual coal exports”, “annual natural gas extraction”, “annual domestic fossil fuel-derived CO2 production” and “annual total fossil fuel-derived CO2 production” plotted versus time yield beautiful straight lines UPWARDS.

Indeed this beautiful linearity gives greater confidence for extrapolation at either end of these graphs. For the convenience of the reader with some graph paper the estimates of “DOMESTIC annual fossil fuel-derived CO2 production” (millions of tonnes) versus time (with per capita estimates of tonnes per person per year in parenthesis, assuming post-2007 population stasis at 21 million) are: 256 (12.2, 1990), 348 (18.2, 2000), 424 (20.2, 2007), 554 (26.3, 2020) and 853 (40.6, 2050); using the same assumptions the “TOTAL annual fossil fuel-derived CO2 production” (with per capita estimates of tonnes per person per year and year in parentheses) is 435 (25.7, 1990), 698 (36.5, 2000), 910 (43.3, 2007), 1,277 (60.8, 2020) and 2,122 (101.0, 2050).

In relation to the above estimates, the Bush-ite Coalition policy of BAU (business as usual) and no constraint on fossil fuel exports would, on the above assumptions,

lead to a “total annual per capita fossil fuel-derived CO2 pollution, TAPCP” of 101 tonnes per person per year in 2050, 27 times China’s 2004 value and 2.5 times Australia’s present value.

5. Major international comparisons – Australia is the world’s worst big country per capita greenhouse polluter

Despite the rhetoric, rational approaches to save the Planet are being resolutely opposed by racist, greedy Bush America (the world’s worst greenhouse gas polluter and stand-out Kyoto non-signatory) and previously Bush-ite and presently neo-Bush-ite Australia (the world’s developed country with the worst annual per capita greenhouse gas pollution and the world’s biggest coal exporter).

Thus 2004 data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA; see: http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/country/index.cfm ) reveal that “annual per capita fossil fuel-derived CO2 pollution, APCP” in tonnes CO2/person is 19.2 (for Australia; 40 if you include Australia’s coal exports), 19.7 (the US), 18.4 (Canada), 9.9 (Japan), 4.2 (the World), 3.6 (China), 1.0 ( India) and 0.25 (for Bangladesh). Neither Bush America nor Bush-ite Australia will sign Kyoto nor cut greenhouse gas pollution – the countries facing devastation from global warming are the mega-delta, below-World-average polluting countries of China, India and Bangladesh.

Australia is the world’s big country with the highest annual per capita greenhouse polluter and is currently playing “dog in the manger” (together with the US, Canada and Japan) in opposing short-term greenhouse gas pollution reduction targets at the December 2007 Bali Conference.

6. Germanwatch index places Australia #54 in the list of the worst CO2 polluters (#56 being worst)

Of course “annual per capita fossil fuel-derived CO2 pollution” is but one – albeit a very important – indicator of climate criminality. The Germanwatch Climate Change Index 2008, a comparison of the 56 top CO2 emitting nations (see: http://www.germanwatch.org/ccpi.htm ), takes other parameters into account in ranking. In this ranking of 56 top CO2 emitting nations, Sweden and Germany are #1 and #2 for greenhouse responsibility, while shale-oil-rich Canada (a US satrap), coal-rich Australia (a US satrap), the USA and oil-rich Saudi Arabia (a puppet of anti-Arab anti-Semitic, Islamophobic Bush US ) rank #53, #54, #55 and #56, respectively (see: http://www.germanwatch.org/ccpi.htm ) .

7. Annual per capita greenhouse gas pollution for the world and Australia with and without land use change (2000)

The US Energy Information Administration gives a year-by-year summary of fossil fuel-derived CO2 pollution for every country in the world (see: http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/iea/carbon.html ). However greenhouse gas pollution (methane, CH4, nitrous oxide, N2O, and carbon dioxide, CO2) comes not just from burning hydrocarbons and coal but also from land use – specifically, agriculture, vegetative decomposition and animal husbandry. A 2000 list of countries by greenhouse gas emissions per capita provides data with and without this land use component (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_greenhouse_gas_emissions_per_capita ). Land use contributes about 20% of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Out of 185 countries Australia ranked 9th worst (with land use change) and 5th (without land use change). The tonnes of “CO2 equivalent” per person per year were 25.9 (with) and 25.6 (without land use change) for Australia, indicating the preponderant importance of fossil fuel burning to Australia’s “score”.

8. Annual per capita GDP is directly proportional to annual per capita CO2 emission

If you plot “annual per capita fossil fuel-derived CO2” (2004) versus “annual per capita GDP” (2003) the data from most countries fall on a straight line (not quite going through zero on the “annual per capita GDP” axis) and with a slope of about 0.3 kilograms/US dollar of GDP or 300 grams per US dollar (300 g/US$). However many countries fall ABOVE this line, most notably the oil-rich Gulf States (2.5 kg/US$), world’s #1 coal exporter Australia (1.9 kg/US$), Kyoto-violator Canada (0.8 kg/US$) and Kyoto non-signatory US (0.5 kg/US$).

This analysis shows that GDP is currently directly proportional to CO2 emission and the consequence is that to cut emissions it is necessary to (a) cut GDP and/or (b) cut CO2-polluting energy generation for GDP generation i.e. urgently promote renewables or suffer a declining GDP.

9. IPCC summary

The Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change has delivered 4 Assessment reports since 1990, the latest being the 2007 Fourth Assessment Report. The prognosis of the latest IPCC Report is very bleak but the situation is actually even worse than they state because of (a) the cut off in scientific papers considered and (b) obfuscatory inputs by climate criminal countries such as the US. For a Summary of the Summary of the 2007 IPCC Synthesis Report of the Fourth Assessment Report see: http://green-blog.org/2007/11/21/summary-of-the-summary-of-the-2007-ipcc-ar4-synthesis-report/ .

The IPCC (2000) has defined various possible scenarios which are summarised in New Scientist, with the worst case scenario being the fast economic growth and globalization, fossil fuel-intensive A1F1 scenario in which global population peaks in mid-century and declines thereafter, and involving the rapid introduction of new and more efficient technologies (see: http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/dn11090). Of various scenarios discussed in the latest IPCC Synthesis Report (see: http://www.ipcc.ch/ ) “Category IV” seems the most favoured in public discussion (e.g. in report by Sir Nicholas Stern) and involves stabilization at 485-570 ppm CO2 , 3.2-4.0 degrees centigrade temperature rise above pre-industrial temperature (2-3 degrees above today’s) and 0.6-2.4 metres sea level above the pre-industrial sea level or 0.4 – 2.2 metres above today’s). However Professor Lovelock (“The Revenge of Gaia”) thinks that 500ppm CO2 would cause disastrous phytoplankton and Greenland ice losses with irreversible loss of major global temperature controls.

Recent data from 2 independent sources (see: “Recent CO2 rises exceed worst case scenarios”, New Scientist) reveal that ACTUAL rates of CO2 emission are the same or worse than in the worst case scenario A1F1 that, according to the 2007 IPCC Summary, will lead to catastrophic, long-term stabilization at (upper estimates) 790 ppm CO2, and a 6 degree centigrade higher temperature and 3.7 meter sea level rise relative to pre-industrial levels i.e. CO2 catastrophically at twice today’s level of 379 ppm , temperatures 4-5 degree centigrade above today’s and sea level 0.8-3.5 metres above today’s.

Thanks to climate criminal, climate genocidal countries, notably Bush America (the world’s #1 GHG polluter) and Bush-ite Australia (the world’s #1 coal exporter) – noting that neither of these will constrain GHG (greenhouse gas) pollution - the world is on track to deliver this predicted catastrophe or even WORSE to our children and grand

10. The Rudd Labor “Garnaut Report excuse” gambit contradicts the expert, IPCC-endorsed Stern injunction to “Act Now”

Both the IPCC Fourth Assessment report and the Stern Report say “act NOW”. However, stripped of mellifluous rhetoric (e.g. “there is no plan B”) the Rudd Labor position involves a 1 year delay on any concrete action to constrain greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution. After nearly 12 years of sustained upward growth of CO2 pollution under the climate criminal Bush-ite Coalition this is simply not good enough. If indeed “there is no plan B” why won’t Rudd Australia sign up to the “Plan A” endorsed by every country in the world except for the US and its satraps Australia, Canada and Japan i.e. “25-40% reduction by 2020”?

According to Stern as quoted by the Guardian (2007): “The average emissions a head must fall from seven tonnes to two to three tonnes of carbon dioxide a year by 2050, he says. US emissions a head are more than 20 tonnes each year, with European citizens producing 10-15 tonnes each. In China it is about five tonnes, in India about one, and in Africa less than one tonne each” (see: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/nov/30/climatechange.carbonemissions ).

Australia is currently producing 43 tonnes each per annum (including fossil fuel exports) and according to the public committed Rudd Labor scenario projects 65 tonnes each per annum by 2050.

11. Rudd Australia greenhouse pollution scenarios

As indicated above (#1) the “solid”, “committed” Rudd Labor Policy indicates “total annual fossil fuel-derived CO2 pollution (million tonnes per year )” of 910 (2007), 1,277 (2020) and 2,122 (2050).

However it is salutary to consider the scenario if Rudd Labor accepted ”25% reduction on 1990 levels by 2050 - “total annual fossil fuel-derived CO2 pollution (million tonnes per year )” would be 910 (2007), 915 (2020) and 1,371 (2050).

If Rudd Labor accepted”40% reduction on 1990 levels by 2050 - “total annual fossil fuel-derived CO2 pollution (million tonnes per year )” would be 910 (2007), 877 (2020) and 1,371 (2050).

Even under Rudd Labor’s “20% renewable by 2020” and “”60% on 2000 levels by 2050”, the “domestic annual fossil fuel-derived CO2 pollution (million tonnes per year )” would be 345 (2000), 424 (2007), 443 (2020) and 138 (2050).

12. Rudd Australia greenhouse pollution scenarios - per capita projections

As indicated above (#1) the “solid” Rudd Labor Policy indicates “total annual per capita pollution (TAPCP, tonnes per person per year)” of 43 (2007), 56 (2020) and 65 (2050);

If Rudd Labor accepted ”25% reduction on 1990 levels by 2050” , “total annual per capita pollution (TAPCP, tonnes per person per year)” would be 43 (2007), 44 (2020) and 65 (2050).

If Rudd Labor accepted “40% on 1990 levels by 2020” the “total annual per capita pollution (TAPCP, tonnes per person per year)” would be 43 (2007), 42 (2020) and 65 (2050).

Even under Rudd Labor’s CURRENTLY PROPOSED “20% renewable by 2020” and “”60% reduction on 2000 levels by 2050” the “DOMESTIC annual per capita pollution (DAPCP, tonnes per person per year)” would be 18 (2000), 21 (2007) and 6.6 (2050) (still nearly twice that of China in 2004).

13. Who pays? Australia benefits from CO2 pollution, the World suffers

One of the world's leading bioethicists Professor Peter Singer (Princeton University and University of Melbourne) is unequivocal in his expert judgment that “We are responsible not only for what we do but also for what we could have prevented… We should consider the consequences both of what we do and what we decide not to do.”

(Singer, P. (2000), “Writings on an Ethical Life”, Ecco Press, New York; ppxv-xvi).

Unfortunately there is a major bipartisan agreement in Australia to ignore the global cost of Australia’s world #1 coal exports. The Australian Green proposal in the recent federal election campaign to rapidly phase out this highly irresponsible and planet-threatening industry was howled down by both the Bush-ite Coaltion and the neo-Bush-ite Labor Party.

At the next elections the Bush-ite Coalition will still have the support of about half the voters yet the former Coalition PM described as “crazy” the Rudd Labor proposal to cut emissions in 2050 to 60% of the 2000 value (a proposal that, as shown in #11 and #12 above, falls so far short of what is needed that Rudd Labor might just as well have not bothered except for the purpose of garnering the votes of the gullible).

According to the 2007 IPCC Synthesis report, unaddressed CO2 pollution and global warming will have a devastating effect on global malnutrition and poverty (see: http://green-blog.org/2007/11/21/summary-of-the-summary-of-the-2007-ipcc-ar4-synthesis-report/ ). According the Professor David Pimentel (2004), global malnutrition and poverty will be an “unimaginable” problem by 2054 (see: http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/Feb04/AAAS.pimentel.hrs.html ), already pollution of the soil, water and air kills about 40% of the world’s population and 57% of the world’s population of 6.5 billion is already malnourished (see: http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Aug07/moreDiseases.sl.html ).

Already 16 million people due avoidably each year (9.6 million being under-5 year old infants) on a Spaceship Earth dominated by a profligate and unresponsive First World (see “Body Count. Global avoidable mortality since 1950”, G.M. Polya, Melbourne, 2007: http://janeaustenand.blogspot.com/ ) – and Australia is on a per capita basis is one of the world’s worst offenders.

14. Who pays? The true environmental and human cost of coal-based electricity can be over 4 times the present market cost

According to a Ministry of Energy Report from Ontario, Canada, coal plants kill 668 people per year in Ontario (population 12.7 million), and cause 1,100 emergency room visits, and more than 300,000 minor illnesses per year. These and previous findings by the Ontario Medical Association were behind bi-partisan will to close Ontario’s coal-fired electricity plants. This Report estimated that a “market” cost of about 4 cents/kWh increases to a “true cost” of about 16 cents/kWh (see: http://www.evworld.com/news.cfm?newsid=8836 ): “The study estimated that the total net present value of coal-fired generation is costing Ontario $0.164 CAD/kWh. Environmental and health costs accounted for 77% to total generation costs”.

15. “True cost” of fossil fuels versus bearable cost, corporate/government-determined cost and A$10 billion pa subsidies for Australian fossil fuel burning

While the “true cost” of coal-based electricity can be over 4 times the “market” cost, this will be ignored in corporate, government and diplomatic “horse-trading” to set carbon price – just as society in practice ignores the “annual death rate” due to cigarette smoking (about 1,000 per million) or due to cars (about 100 per million) in assessing the “true cost” of tobacco or cars. Extrapolating from Ontario, the annual death rate from coal-fired power generation is about 50 per million.

If the true environmental and human cost of fossil fuel-derived power were taken into account then (a) economics would dictate “keep fossil fuels in the ground” (as advocated by the Australian Greens and by George Monbiot: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2225387,00.html ), (b) subsidies would be immediately removed and (c) compensation ordered by the courts for the victims of this technological perversion (as has happened already in relation to victims of industrial use of asbestos).

16. Renewables are the way – keep fossil fuels in the ground

Here are some estimates of the cost in Australian cents per kilowatt-hour (Ac/kWh) of various sources of electricity (for a detailed discussion see “Renewables: how the numbers stack up” in New Matilda: http://www.newmatilda.com/home/articledetailmagazine.asp?ArticleID=2398&CategoryID=213 ):

3-4 — coal, Australia;

18 — the real cost of coal, taking into account the environmental and health impact; according to a conservative Canadian Ontario Ministry of Energy Report (CAN$0.164);

15 — nuclear via the UK’s newest Sizewell B plant;

7.5-8.5 — wind power, Australia;

15 — concentrated solar power or CSP;

25-45 — standard silicon-based photovoltaics (PVs).

However recent advances means we must add the following to the list:

4 – the price of solar PV is set to fall dramatically to compete directly with the current “market price” of coal due to balloon, sliver and non-silicon PV technology advances. The non-silicon organic thin film technology developed by US Nobel Laureate Alan Heeger and his South Korean colleagues will reduce the cost of installing photovoltaic (PV) capacity by a factor of 20; the Swiss ETH CIGS non-silicon thin film system may be competitive with coal within 5 years; Australian sliver silicon PV technology will drop silicon solar panel costs threefold. In particular, the Californian balloon solar capture technology is predicted to make PV solar competitive with “market price” coal by 2010 (see “Solar energy & the end of war. US balloon technology to slash solar energy cost 90% by 2010”: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/18667/42/ ).

4 – Australian geothermal. According to Professor John Veevers (“The Innamincka hot fractured rock project” in “Lies, Deep Fries & Statistics”, editor Robyn Williams, ABC Books, Sydney, 2007; also see energy cost-related related chapters by Dr Gideon Polya “Australian complicity in Iraq mass mortality”, Dr Mark Diesendorf “A sustainable energy future for Australia”, and Martin Mahy “Hydrogen Minibuses”): “Modelled costs are 4 cents per kilowatt hour, plus half to 1 cent for transmission to grid. This compares with 3.5 cents for black coal, 4 cents for brown coal, 4.2 cents for gas, but all with uncosted emissions. Clean coal, the futuristic technology of coal gasification combined with CO2 sequestration or burial, yet to be demonstrated, comes in at 6.5 cents, and solar and wind power at 8 cents.”

Further, wave, tidal, biomass and biofuel energy technologies are renewable technologies competitive with the “true cost” of fossil fuels. Australia’s huge reserves of economic geothermal power are expertly assessed to have the capacity to provide most of Australia’s energy needs for the best part of a millennium and Australia is blessed with huge solar, tidal, wave and wind resources.

17. Nuclear is not an option

The Bush-ite Coalition had an unerring knack of being resolutely incorrect or in denial about so many crucial matters – anthropogenic climate change, the reasons for war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the terrorist threat to Australia, and the cost of meeting the climate change crisis. They are also incorrect in relation to the nuclear option. As summarized in #16 above the nuclear option is more expensive than current renewable wind and geothermal technologies and as expensive as current concentrated solar technology. Further, the FULL nuclear cycle (from uranium mining and processing to waste disposal and plant de-commissioning) can be as expensive in terms of CO2 emissions as a gas-fired power station – and we still have the intractable security and waste disposal problems.

18. Mandated efficient energy provision as well as usage

Australia has mandated replacement of incandescent globes with high efficiency electric lights over the next year or so. If Australia can legislatively mandate efficient energy USAGE it should also mandate the highest efficiency, lowest REAL cost energy PROVISION - currently geothermal, followed by wind with both of these set to be shortly supplanted by exciting low-cost solar technologies.

Failure of Australia to mandate minimum price energy provision simply reflects entrenched dishonesty and corruption in our society. This is briefly discussed further below in relation to the Australian and global impact of fossil fuel burning.

19. Oil, strategic hegemony and 5-8 million post-invasion excess deaths in the Bush Wars in the Occupied Iraqi and Afghan Territories

The strategic importance of the Middle East in terms of oil and global hegemony is the core reason for the Bush Asian Wars that have so far been associated with 5-8 million post-invasion excess deaths in the Occupied Iraqi and Afghan Territories. This explanation has been argued cogently by outstanding anti-war humanitarian Professor Noam Chomsky (from 63-Nobel- Laureate Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT) in an article entitled “Imminent Crises: Threats and Opportunities” in which he says of the Middle East : “the huge energy resources of the region were recognized by Washington sixty years ago as a “stupendous source of strategic power,” the “strategically most important area of the world,” and “one of the greatest material prizes in world history.”[reference] 1 Control over this stupendous prize has been a primary goal of U.S. policy ever since, and threats to it have naturally aroused enormous concern.”

Total post-invasion excess deaths in the Occupied Iraqi and Afghan Territories now stand at about 5-8 million. There has been a horrendous human cost of the ongoing Palestinian Genocide, Iraqi Genocide and Afghan Genocide (post-invasion excess deaths 0.3 million, 1.5-2 million and 3-6 million, respectively; post-invasion under-5 infant deaths total 0.2 million, 0.6 million and 2.2 million, respectively; and refugees total 7 million, 4.5 million and 4 million, respectively) (updated figures from MWC News).

However there is a further huge cost in the US$2.5 trillion accrual cost of the Bush wars (according to 2001 Economics Nobel Laureate Professor Joseph Stiglitz) that has recently been updated to $3.5 trillion by a Congressional Report (see: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/13099/26/ ) ; the $2.6 trillion post-1956 accrual cost of US aid for Zionist colonization of Palestine, Lebanon and Syria (see: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/533/26/ ); the huge human cost of the US-expanded opiate trade – 0.6 million post-2001 global opiate drug-related deaths (about 2,000 in Australia) due to US Alliance restoration of the Taliban-destroyed Afghan opium industry from about 5% of world market share in 2001 to 93% in 2007; and huge diversion of financial support from alleviation of global warming-exacerbated poverty (the “War on Terror” has cost Australia alone about $20 billion in corporate and government domestic security measures and billions more in overseas military deployments).

20. Huge environmental cost and environmental economic cost of fossil fuel burning and deforestation for Australia and the World

It has been estimated by Balmford et al in the prestigious scientific journal Science (see “Economic reasons for preserving wild nature”: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/297/5583/950 ) that for a variety of “biomes” (ecological systems) the total economic value (TEV) is about 50% greater when the resource is used sustainably as opposed to destructive conversion. Further, these scientists have found that the economic benefit from preserving what is left of wild nature is OVER 100 TIMES greater than the cost of preservation.

However these estimates are IGNORED by Lib-Lab Australian Governments in the interests of “jobs” and corporations as we see in the ongoing deforestation of Victoria and Tasmania. The true economic value of State-owned assets are not being considered – these citizen-owned public resources are effectively being given away to private corporations.

These ugly realities of dishonesty and environmental vandalism reach a pinnacle in relation to greenhouse gas pollution. The polluters are not being charged the full cost of what they are destroying. Indeed quite the reverse is happening – fossil fuel burning is actually SUBSIDIZED to the tune of about $10 billion annually in Australia (see: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22873649-12377,00.html ).

A further concrete Australian example is the threat to the Great Barrier Reef from global warming as spelled out in the latest 2007 IPCC Synthesis Report (see: http://www.ipcc.ch/ ) – this is of course a major tourist asset in an economic sense.

21. Biofuels represent a perversion with 57% malnourished, grain production falling and grain price rising

As outlined in #13, According to the 2007 IPCC Synthesis report, unaddressed CO2 pollution and global warming will have a devastating effect on global malnutrition and poverty (see: http://www.ipcc.ch/). According the Professor David Pimentel (2004) of Cornell University, New York, global malnutrition and poverty will be an “unimaginable” problem by 2054 (see: http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/Feb04/AAAS.pimentel.hrs.html ), already pollution of the soil, water and air kills about 40% of the world’s population and 57% of the world’s population of 6.5 billion is already malnourished (see: http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Aug07/moreDiseases.sl.html ).

Already 16 million people due avoidably each year (9.6 million being under-5 year old infants) on a Spaceship Earth dominated by a profligate and unresponsive First World (see “Body Count. Global avoidable mortality since 1950”, G.M. Polya, Melbourne, 2007: http://janeaustenand.blogspot.com/ ) – and Australia on a per capita basis is one of the world’s worst offenders.

Biofuels are formally CO2 neutral and renewable – however in the context of horrendous global poverty, a major decline in grain production, huge increases in grain price and increasing diversion of grain for biofuel generation (see: http://www.fas.usda.gov/grain/circular/2006/05-06/graintoc.htm ) this is a perversion and a crime against humanity, the more so when alternative cheap, efficient renewable energy options are technically already available (see #16).

22. Oil is the feedstock for sophisticated organic chemical industry – it should not be burned

Forty years ago my organic chemistry lecturer told us that we are actually BURNING the feedstock for sophisticated chemical industry, the material used to make pharmaceuticals and plastics that dominate modern life. Today this wanton destruction of an immensely valuable resource is continuing. The “real cost” and the “real value” are ignored because of the political might of fossil fuel burning corporations.

I am acutely aware of this travesty as the author of a huge pharmacological reference text (Gideon Polya, “Biochemical Targets of Plant Bioactive Compounds. A pharmacological reference guide to sites of action and biological effects” CRC Press, Taylor & Francis, New York & London, 2003:

http://www.amazon.com/Biochemical-Targets-Plant-Bioactive-Compounds/dp/0415308291 ).

23. Deforestation can be halved by investing US$15 billion per annum

Further to the points made in relation to environmental impacts of global warming, deforestation contributes about 15-20% to increased net global greenhouse gas production annually. Yet according to Sir Nicholas Stern: "For $10-15bn (£4.8-7.2bn) per year, a programme could be constructed that could stop up to half the deforestation” (see: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/nov/30/climatechange.carbonemissions ).

In addition to playing a vital role in global temperature homeostasis, forest ecosystems are sources for invaluable pharmaceutical resources (see my recent huge reference book: Gideon Polya, “Biochemical Targets of Plant Bioactive Compounds. A pharmacological reference guide to sites of action and biological effects”, CRC Press, Taylor & Francis, New York & London, 2003: http://www.amazon.com/Biochemical-Targets-Plant-Bioactive-Compounds/dp/0415308291 ).

24. Climate criminal countries such as Australia face Sanctions, Boycotts, Green Tariffs and Reparations Demands

The science and technology has been well reviewed internationally (see the 2007 IPCC Reports: http://www.ipcc.ch/ and a recent review of renewable scenarios: http://www.martinot.info/Martinot_et_al_AR32_prepub.pdf ) as indeed has the economic of climate change via the Stern Report (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stern_Review ).

The Rudd Government intransigence in not supporting the draft Bali proposal of “25-40% reduction by 2020” is ostensibly because of the economic review by Professor Garnaut due in first draft in mid-2008 and presumably finalized by late 2008.

Yet one boundary condition of Professor Garnaut’s report is already clear – in his own words (December 2007) “Australia will be pulling its full weight” which means (if one accepts “all men are created equal” ) that Australia achieves “annual per capita greenhouse gas pollution” parity with the rest of the world. However the other boundary condition (perceived “affordability” in the light of Australia-specific economic analysis) is completely uncertain for the simple reason that the World may decide to take action against climate criminal countries such as Australia and the US through imposition of Sanctions, Boycotts, Green Tariffs and Reparations Demands.

Indeed a SOLUTION to greedy, climate criminal US, Canada, Japan and Australian intransigence at Bali would be international Sanctions and Boycotts or, more precisely, "Green Tariffs" and Reparations Demands that recognize the REAL environmental and human cost of goods produced by these irresponsible and intrinsically RACIST climate criminal countries.

It is notable that these 4 countries have ANOTHER intrinsically racist and genocidal activity in common - various participation in the genocidal Bush Asian Wars - post-invasion excess deaths in the Iraqi Genocide and Afghan Genocide now total 1.5-2 million and 3-6 million, respectively; post-invasion under-5 infant deaths total 0.6 million and 2.2 million, respectively; and refugees total 4.5 million and about 4 million, respectively) (see: "Solar energy & the end of war": http://mwcnews.net/content/view/18667/42/ ).

What Australia and the US are doing is far more serious and intrinsically racist than the crimes of Apartheid South Africa, a system that was eventually disposed of through international Sanctions and Boycotts. Sanctions, Boycotts, Green Tariffs and Reparations Deamnds may well be applied to Australia, the US and like climate criminal countries that are threatening the Planet with climate genocide. Indeed a model for this comes from outstanding American academic, writer, editor and economist, Father of Reaganomics Dr Paul Craig Roberts who explicitly demands that the world should stop the “Iraqi genocide” by “dumping the dollar” (see: http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts02122007.html ). The World is evidently doing just that – and may well act similarly towards an intransigent Australia, on a per capita basis the world’s worst developed country greenhouse gas polluter.

Summary

On a per capita basis and including our fossil fuel exports, Australia is the developed country with the highest greenhouse gas pollution. Thus 2004 data from the US Energy Information Administration reveal that “annual per capita fossil fuel-derived CO2 pollution” in tonnes CO2/person is 19.2 (for Australia; 40 if you include Australia’s coal exports), 19.7 (the US), 18.4 (Canada), 9.9 (Japan), 4.2 (the World), 3.6 (China), 1.0 ( India) and 0.25 (for Bangladesh).

The Rudd Labor commitment to “20% renewables by 2020”, “”60% reduction on 2000 greenhouse gas pollution by 2050” and no constraint on fossil fuel extraction for export ACTUALLY means (based on US Energy Information Administration data, assuming current constant coal, gas and CO2 pollution growth rates, constant population and including Australia’s fossil fuel EXPORTS) “annual per capita fossil fuel-derived CO2 emission in tonnes per person per year” of 43 (2007), 56 (2020) and 65 (2050).

If Australia continues to refuse to act on both domestic and exported greenhouse gas pollution it will very likely face international action through Sanctions, Boycotts, Green Tariffs and Reparations Demands. The Rudd “Garnaut Report” excuse for inaction at Bali is contradicted by Professor Garnaut’s recent clear declaration that ““Australia will be pulling its full weight” which, given the equality of all Men, surely means massive reduction of CO2 pollution to per capita parity with countries such as India and China.

This has been written in the public interest.

Dr Gideon Polya
Melbourne, Australia

Rudd Australia Report Card #1. Continued Australian and US Coalition war crimes in Occupied Iraq

2008-01-15T11:48:00.000-08:00

Decent anti-racist, pro-Peace, pro-Environment, pro-Humanity, pro-Planet Australians were pleased to see the victory of the Australian Labor Party under Kevin Rudd in the recent Australian Federal Elections (24 November 2007) and the substantial Australian Greens vote which assisted that victory and which will restore sensible public review of public policy in the new Senate.

The Australian Government under PM Rudd was sworn in on Monday 3 December, 2007 – Day 1 of Rudd Australia. Kevin Rudd has made it clear that he favours “measurement-based policy” and “evidence-based policy” and has further asked his colleagues to give him Report Cards on progress.

I applaud this approach as a senior scientist committed to rational risk management that successively involves

(a) accurate data,
(b) scientific analysis and
(c) systemic change to minimize risk

(for a detailed. Expert exposition see Professor James Reason, “Human error: models and management”, British Medical Journal, vol. 320, 768-770, 2000: http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/320/7237/768. Indeed as a responsible public service I have committed a lot of time and effort to informing governments, media and fellow citizens about important matters.

Dated 4 December 2007, Day #2 of the Rudd Government, Rudd Australia Report Card #1 is the first of a series of carefully researched and edited “Rudd Australia Report Cards” that I will be sending to the Rudd Government and to media and fellow citizens. I am very happy for anyone to re-publish these “Rudd Australia Report Cards” with attribution in the interests of Australia and Humanity.

Rudd Australia Report Card #1.
Continued Australian and US Coalition war crimes in Occupied Iraq

A. Background

1. Invasion and occupation of other countries violates the UN Charter and is a war crime.
As reported by the UK Guardian (September 2004) the invasion of Iraq was illegal and breached the UN Charter: “The United Nations secretary general, Kofi Annan, declared explicitly for the first time last night that the US-led war on Iraq was illegal. Mr Annan said that the invasion was not sanctioned by the UN security council or in accordance with the UN’s founding charter. In an interview with the BBC World Service broadcast last night, he was asked outright if the war was illegal. He replied: “Yes, if you wish.”” (see: http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1305709,00.html )

2. The ostensible reasons for the invasion of Iraq were false. As is now well-known a series of assertions about pre-invasion Iraq – most notably possession of Weapons if Mass destruction (WMD) - were false.

3. The Australian Government ignored intelligence advice about lack of hard evidence for WMDs. The Australian Government ignored advice over lack of hard evidence for WMD from a chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix (Sydney Peace Prize recipient and who declared the Iraq War was illegal: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0305-01.htm), Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Wilkie (who resigned from his Intelligence career over the issue), Scott Ritter (a former UN weapons inspector) and Dr David Kelly (top UK WMD expert who apparently suicided but may have been murdered according to the UK Daily Mail.

4. Oil, hegemony and strategic control were evidently the actual reasons for the invasion. Outstanding American scholar Professor Noam Chomsky (from 63 Nobel Laureate MIT, Boston) has concluded that “the huge energy resources of the region were recognized by Washington sixty years ago as a “stupendous source of strategic power,” the “strategically most important area of the world,” and “one of the greatest material prizes in world history.”(reference 1) Control over this stupendous prize has been a primary goal of U.S. policy ever since, and threats to it have naturally aroused enormous concern.” (see: http://www.monthlyreview.org/0607nc.htm.

5. Australian Government admission of oil as a major reason for the invasion. According to the Independent on Sunday (UK) “The Australian Defence Minister, Brendan Nelson has admitted that oil was a major factor in the government’s decision to keep troops in Iraq” (see: http://news.independent.co.uk/world/australasia/article2739741.ece ) .

B. Current situation (4 December 2007, day #2 of the Rudd Labor Government of Australia)

1. A big majority of Australians want Australian forces out of Iraq.
According to a 2007 survey by the US Studies Centre, University of Sydney 67% of Australians polled opposed Australia’s presence in Iraq and 56% opposed Australia’s presence in Occupied Afghanistan (see: http://sydney.edu.au/us-studies/docs/Survey_Murray_OpEd.pdf).

2. Australian forces are still in Iraq – and hundreds will remain indefinitely.
According to the UK Independent on Sunday, “Australia, which continues to back the increasingly unpopular war, initially sent 2,000 troops. It still has 1,000 troops there, supported by 600 air force and navy personnel in the region.” (see: http://news.independent.co.uk/world/australasia/article2739741.ece).

3. Before being sworn in PM-elect Rudd stated that most but not all Australian forces will be withdrawn by mid-2008 – hundreds of Australian forces would be left indefinitely. The UK Guardian has reported (see: http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2220119,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=networkfront ) that PM-elect Rudd will pull most but not all of Australia’s troops out of Iraq by mid-2008, leaving some hundreds behind; Rudd will soon meet Robert McCallum, the US ambassador to AAustralia, to discuss the precise timing of the withdrawal; Rudd admits that the presence of troops in Iraq has made Australia more of a target for terrorism; and he will keep Australia’s 1,000 troops in Afghanistan. The Rudd Government will consult with the US Ambassador about withdrawal but there was no indication of whether the Occupied Iraq Government would be consulted.

4. Rudd Government ignores democratic wishes of the Iraqi People who overwhelmingly oppose occupation. WorldPublicOpinion.org, an expert polling organization with an advisory board from top US universities and organizations, reported that as of September 2006 (see: http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/articles/home_page/250.php?nid=&id=&pnt=250&lb=hmpg1 )
“ a large majority of Iraqis—71%—say they would like the Iraqi government to ask for U.S.-led forces to be withdrawn from Iraq within a year or less … support for attacks against U.S.-led forces has increased sharply to 61 percent …79 percent of Iraqis say that the United States is having a negative influence on the situation in Iraq … 77 percent of respondents say that the United States plans to have permanent military bases… 91 percent of Sunnis now say that they want the United States to withdraw within a year, including 84 percent of those in Baghdad….Large numbers say that the United States’ military presence is “provoking more conflict than it is preventing.” This view is held by 78 percent overall, and by 82 percent of Shias and a near-unanimous 97 percent of Sunnis…78% - believe that “If the new Iraqi government were to tell the United States to withdraw all of its forces within six months,” the United States would refuse to do so.”

5. 1.5-2.0 million post-invasion violent and non-violent excess deaths in Iraq. Recent authoritative estimates of violence-related post-invasion excess deaths in occupied Iraq (as of September 2007) are of 1.2 million (from the expert UK ORB polling company: http://www.opinion.co.uk/Newsroom_details.aspx?NewsId=78 and http://www.countercurrents.org/polya190907.htm ) and 0.8 million (from the top US Bloomberg School of Public Health group at Johns Hopkins University who estimated 0.6 million violent deaths as of July 2006) (see: http://www.thelancet.com/webfiles/images/journals/lancet/s0140673606694919.pdf) . The prestigious US Just Foreign Policy organization estimates over 1.1 million post-invasion Iraqi deaths due to U.S. invasion (see: http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq/iraqdeaths.html).

Authoritative estimates of non-violent post-invasion excess deaths in Occupied Iraq as of September 2007 are of 0.7 million (from the latest UN Population Division data: http://esa.un.org/unpp/ ) and of 0.8 million (calculated from United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, data on post-invasion under-5 year old infant deaths: http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/index.html ; for impoverished Third World countries the under-5 infant deaths are about 0.7 of the total excess deaths, as described in the MWC News article “Layperson’s Guide to Counting Iraq deaths”: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/5872/26/ ).

We can now estimate total post-invasion violent and non-violent occupied Iraqi excess deaths and these clearly range from 0.7 million + 0.8 million = 1.5 million (minimum estimate) to 0.8 million + 1.2 million = 2.0 million (upper estimate) (see “Iraq: Genocide by all definition. Bush’s Iraq War. 2 million Iraqi excess deaths”: . http://mwcnews.net/content/view/17066/42/ ).

UNICEF and UN Population Division data indicate 0.6 million post-invasion under-5 infant deaths. UNHCR and the BRussells Tribunal indicate 4.5 million Iraqi refugees (2005 population 27 million) (see “Body Count. Global avoidable mortality since 1950” (G.M. Polya, Melbourne, 2007: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/1375/247/ and http://globalbodycount.blogspot.com/).

6. Gross under-estimate of post-invasion excess deaths by Labor leader Kevin Rudd
Labor Leader of the Opposition Kevin Rudd speaking to Parliament as reported on 14 February 2007 on the ABC PM program: “KEVIN RUDD: Prime Minister, given that another 100 Iraqi civilians will die today, adding to the 61,000 who have died so far, following his failed invasion in Iraq, when will the Prime Minister have the courage and the decency to admit that he has got this war radically wrong from day one?”

Yet as of 19 August 2004, Mr Rudd was aware of horrendous passive mass murder of Occupied Iraqi infants of circa 0.1 million annually as revealed by the following e-mail:

“Dear Mr Rudd,

Please find below a DETAILED FORMAL COMPLAINT I have sent to all the major Federal and State Law Officers in Australia (and copied to politicians, media, NGOs etc) concerning Australian Federal Government complicity in war crimes in Iraq, namely

(1) illegal invasion of a remote, non-threatening country and

(2) horrendous mass mortality in an occupied country e.g. current under-5 infant mortality is estimated from UNICEF data to be about 100,000 per year in Iraq (population 24 million) as compared to 1000 in the “occupier” country Australia (population 20 million) - while annual per capita medical expenditure is currently US$40 in occupied, war-ravaged Iraq as compared to US$1000 in Australia. I would be very happy if you would disseminate this to all your colleagues and associates

Yours sincerely,

Gideon Polya
Date: 17 August 2004

To: Federal & State Commissioners of Police, Solicitors General & Attorneys General
From: Dr Gideon Polya
Re: Complaint to Australian law officers about Australian Federal Government complicity in war crimes involving mass mortality, principally of children and in Iraq …”

7. No indication yet of investigations or prosecutions over Australian Iraq-related crimes, including AWB scandal and war crimes
It was estimated by Senator Rachel Siewert in a speech to the Australian Senate that up to 21,000 Iraqi infants may have died as a rwssult of the AWB diversion of $300milion from the Oil for Food Program (see: “Australian Green senator exposes human cost of AWB Iraq kick-back scandal – 21,000 Iraqi infant deaths” at http://www.newsvine.com/awb ). Iraqi litigation against both the Australian Government and AWB is contemplated:http://www.newsvine.com/awb . Formal complaints over Australian war crimes in Occupied Iraq have been lodged by an individual with the International Criminal Court (see: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/3087/247/ ) but there is no indication whether the Australian Government will act responsibly and make a formal complaint to the ICC. The Chief Prosecutor of the ICC has indicated his preparedness to investigate state complaints against Bush and Blair (see: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/03/18/nirq118.xml).

Indeed 2005 UK Nobel Laureate Harold Pinter in his acceptance speech advocated such prosecutions (see: http://www.countercurrents.org/arts-pinter081205.htm ) : “The invasion of Iraq was a bandit act, an act of blatant state terrorism, demonstrating absolute contempt for the concept of international law. The invasion was an arbitrary military action inspired by a series of lies upon lies and gross manipulation of the media and therefore of the public; an act intended to consolidate American military and economic control of the Middle East masquerading as a last resort all other justifications having failed to justify themselves as liberation. A formidable assertion of military force responsible for the death and mutilation of thousands and thousands of innocent people.

We have brought torture, cluster bombs, depleted uranium, innumerable acts of random murder, misery, degradation and death to the Iraqi people and call it ‘bringing freedom and democracy to the Middle East’.

How many people do you have to kill before you qualify to be described as a mass murderer and a war criminal? One hundred thousand? More than enough, I would have thought. Therefore it is just that Bush and Blair be arraigned before the International Criminal Court of Justice.”

My comment: “2 million? More than enough, I would have thought.”

8. Top experts decry an “Iraqi Holocaust” and an “Iraqi Genocide”. From the authoritative estimates in (5) above, there is clearly an Iraqi Holocaust. However Article 2 of the UN Genocide Convention (see: http://www.edwebproject.org/sideshow/genocide/convention.html ) In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such:

a) Killing members of the group;
b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group. The British have been violently killing Iraqis off and on since 1914, the Americans since 1990.

Australia has been variously involved in this sustained and therefore “intentional” mass killing of Iraqis – and is now also involved under the new Rudd Labor Government.
Eminent scholars and writers who decry “Iraqi Holocaust” and/or an “Iraqi Genocide” include Dr Mark Weisbrot (President of Just Foreign policy: http://www.alternet.org/columnists/story/68568/ ), Dr Paul Craig Roberts (eminent US writer, academic, editor and Father of Reaganomics: http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts10162007.html ), and John Pilger (outstanding, award-winning Australian-UK writer and journalist: http://www.newstatesman.com/200711150033).

9. Australian Mainstream media and politicians involved in Holocaust Commission, Holocaust Denial, Genocide Commission, and Genocide Denial
Notwithstanding the matters outlined above, the Iraq War was studiously avoided during the Australian Federal Election after the manner of the John Clease portrayal of Basil Fawlty in “Fawlty Towers” and his injunction “Don’t mention the war”. In relation to Occupied Iraq Australian Mainstream media and politicians are wittingly or unwittingly involved in Holocaust Commission, Holocaust Denial, Genocide Commission, and Genocide Denial.

The ONLY Mainstream Australian publication reporting this carnage (to my knowledge) during the Australian election campaign was a book “Lies, Deep Fries & Statistics” edited by Australia’s top science journalist Robyn Williams and published by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (the ABC) – it contained a chapter (just prior to chapters by top human rights lawyers, former Australian Attorney General Kep Enderby QC and Julian Burnside QC) by me, entitled “Australian complicity in Iraq mass mortality”, this being the transcript of a nation-wide broadcast I had made in 2005: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/science/ockham/stories/s1445960.htm).

Yet Mainstream Australian journalists and politicians IGNORE the carnage in the Occupied Palestinian, Iraqi and Afghan Territories – post-invasion excess deaths total 0.3 million, 1.5-2 million and 3-6 million, respectively; under-5 infant deaths total 0.2 million, 0.6 million and 2.2 million, respectively; and the refugees total 7 million, 4.5 million and 3.7 million, respectively (see ”State Terrorism” on MWC News: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/18122/42/ and “Rudd Oz honeymoon over before it began. Me-too Rudd Labor re-commits Australia to US war crimes”: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/18458/42/ ).

Holocaust denial in relation to the Jewish Holocaust (6 million deaths, including 1 million non-violent excess deaths) has been criminalized in a number of Western European countries (punished by up to 10 years’ imprisonment in Austria) and France and Belgium have recently criminalized denial of the Armenian Genocide. Indeed Germany has recently suggested extending EU legislation to criminalize denial or minimization of other contemporary holocausts and genocides (see “Genocide denial. No-penalty criminalization required now”: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/12483/26/).
Put bluntly, Australia has become a Land of Lies and Flies. As powerfully illustrated by this continuing holocaust-ignoring in relation to what outstanding US and UK writers describe as an Iraqi Holocaust or Iraqi Genocide, Australia has become a Murdochracy.

10. Summary
The election of the Rudd Labor Government has been welcomed by decent, anti-racist, pro-Peace, pro-Planet Australians but as this Day #2 Rudd Australia Report Card #1 shows there are many serious issues to be addressed in a resolute fashion, in this instance Australia’s CONTINUING and past involvement in Occupied Iraq and CONTINUING Australian Holocaust Commission, Holocaust Denial, Genocide Commission, and Genocide Denial. There is urgent need for investigation and prosecution of Iraq-related Australian crimes. Of crucial importance is the near-comprehensive, entrenched failure of Mainstream media, politicians, academics and other public servants to tell the truth - lying by omission that represent a major threat to the security, health, wealth and reputation of Australia.

This has been written in the public interest.

Dr Gideon Polya
Melbourne, Australia

Credentials: Dr Gideon Polya published some 130 works in a 4 decade scientific career, most recently a huge pharmacological reference text “Biochemical Targets of Plant Bioactive Compounds” (CRC Press/Taylor & Francis, New York & London, 2003). He has just published “Body Count. Global avoidable mortality since 1950” (G.M. Polya, Melbourne, 2007: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/1375/247/ and http://globalbodycount.blogspot.com/). He is very actively involved in a Melbourne, Australia Climate Action Group. For his commentary on global warming as a painter of HUGE polemical paintings, see: “US Nuclear, Greenhouse & Poverty Threats. “Apocalypse Now” Painting”: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/17652/42/ and “War on Terra, Climate Criminals. “Terra” painting”: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/15671/42/).