16th September 2006 Australia Tour

Dear Prime Minister,

I applaud your most recent speech to the Australian Parliament in which you deftly rebuke those European and World leaders who disagree with George Bush’s policies by calling them “Mad”. Describing this group of people as “Anti-American” or essentially racists, is a clever way of
avoiding the fact that their low opinions of George Bush’s competence as a leader are shared by the vast majority of the world’s population and the majority of Americans.

Truly, President Bush has had no more loyal a supporter than you. From the early days of “cooking up intelligence” and excuses to invade Iraq, to publicly criticising new organisations such as the BBC for pointing out US government deficiencies or ensuring the rapid transit of kidnap victims or arms for tyrannical regimes, if the White House wants it done, you are the man. In return, when you wanted an international focus on the Palestinian problem or Global Warming George was there for you. When you wanted an end to WTO rules which harm the developing world, George did his best for you. You asked privately for the closure of Guantanamo Bay prison camp for terrorist suspects and the US government tried really, really hard to make it happen.

Normally your speech-writers coordinate seamlessly to ensure that White House message is conveyed effectively and timely from the “Little White House” in Downing street. But on reading the rest of your Speech from Canberra, I think I have discovered a flaw. The section of your speech, encouraging more engagement with the US;
"Our task is to ensure that with them we do not limit the agenda to security. If our security lies in our values, and our values are about justice and fairness as well as freedom from fear, then the agenda must be more than security and the alliance include more than America."
reads rather ironically when you consider the current rebellion in the US Senate over GW Bush’s proposed legislation to deprive terror suspects of access to certain evidence used against them in court, to allow the use of coerced testimony in court and to redefine the Geneva Conventions to allow the use of torture in interrogations. Whilst this piece of legislation is going through the Senate, I understand that the White House is trying hard to avoid provoking any discussion involving the use of the words “Justice”, “Values” or the phrases “Justice and Fairness” or “Freedom from Fear”. I recommend you get your speech writers onto this before you cause any further damage.

Yours faithfully,

AJ Bladderwait