Alleged war criminal and economic vandal to get honorary degree

john howard

Academics from the University of Sydney are protesting against the bestowal of an honorary doctorate on John Howard, saying the former Prime Minister is "considered a racist and a war criminal" and "not a fit recipient of the university's highest honour".

The university said it is conferring the honour "in acknowledgement of his achievements including world-leading gun law reform, leadership in East Timor and contribution to Australia's economic reform".

Read more ath The Sydney Morning Herald

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Personal opinion: think this thread is a Hot Topic and therefore I am replying: This was copied from the SMH  and the rest can be read via the link below: I am in complete agreement with the writer of this article.

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"On Friday some 200 unruly activists gathered to protest Howard's award ceremony. I was there, and it was on the verge of getting ugly. Insults normally cast only at criminals with no reputation to lose were hurled at him with wild abandon. The university's Great Hall was ringed by placards proclaiming Howard a "racist" and "war criminal".

"It should be obvious to even primary school students that a war criminal is someone who has actually committed a war crime. More to the point, to equate a democratic leader who supported the toppling of a brutal dictatorship with the likes of the Nazis and the Khmer Rouge is a cheapening of moral language."

"One could oppose the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and still believe that Howard, like Tony Blair and George W. Bush, was motivated by good intentions. Saddam Hussein, after all, was a murderous despot who had invaded Iran in 1980 and Kuwait in 1990 and subsequently defied about 17 United Nations resolutions. He also used chemical weapons in the murder of tens of thousands of Kurds in the north and the Shiites of southern Iraq."

"As last week's university protests show, the old rancour and hatred lingers among left-wing radicals: they seek to deny platforms to anyone they decide is politically unacceptable to them." 

"But the truth is that Howard's support, like that of Margaret Thatcher's a generation earlier, never rested with the intellectual elite. Indeed, it has always been found among the great mass of ordinary, decent, hard-working people. Howard is the proud son of a petrol station owner, and he has never forgotten his roots."

 http://www.smh.com.au/comment/john-howard-is-demonised-beyond-rational-understanding-20161003-grtjfq.html


They went into Iraq purely for OIL nothing else -- and Bush / Howard and Blair are as guilty as hell,  we had NO business poking out nose in there and yea Sadam was a wicked man BUT he still had all under control -- they are worse off now -- with the war we all caused.

911 was a good excuse for a lot that is happening in the world today!

How does being "the proud son of a petrol station owner" justify invading Iraq?

Plan B you are repeating looney left nonsense. For your information the US neither needs nor wants Iraq oil . It is not only independent in oil supplies but exports . The oil from Iraq goes to China and India .

The support of the coalition to invade Iraq was a bipartisan decision ....... The motion was supported in the House of Representatives and resulted in 80 votes to 63.

The politics of the day meant Labor HAD TO support whatever the Libs did. But it was Howard's push to invade.

Don't try to blame someone elese.

Age letters

Tom Switzer can't understand why anyone but "left-wing radicals" would demonise John Howard. Tom, I am here to help. Remember how he took us into a pointless and illegal war, the consequences of which just get worse. Your argument – "Saddam was bad" – is not an argument, because if you invade everyone who is bad, that leads you to Russia for starters.

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In the greatest boom in our history, Howard wasted it by trying to bribe each individual voter. His extraordinarily wasteful spending is at the base of our so far irrepairable budget. For me, his treatment of asylum seekers, which so generously gave people permission to hate, is his worst aspect. He was the most damaging PM in our history. And Tom, using your language, you sound like a right-wing radical and surely, surely, conclusive evidence that the ABC is a corrupted and biased "conservative" playground.

Bruce Niemann, Yeodene

More left wing looney non sense . Totally out of touch with Australian voters or reality . Keep preaching your undergraduate rat baggery it just makes you look foolish . I am sure the ABC and the Age readers and YLC journos will lend there support . Meanwhile the rest of Australia will get on with enjoying life.

That's an excellent discussion of the topic there Carlos.

 

 What is all the bluddy fuss about??? John Howard a former graduate and alumnus of Sydney University gets an honorary degree and all hell breaks loose?

The man studied law there and is entitled to accept this honour by the University, get over it.

Yeah, it makes me scratch my head too Micha. If anyone from the Liberal side even passes wind, you bet someone on here will object. Laughable really. The capacity for fair thinking seems to be beyond the reach of some. Have to live with it.

Several of us here have objected to honorary degrees per se. 

Honorary degrees are useless, you can't use them to get a job. It's like  giving someone the keys to the city - there is no gate, shall we  stop  doing that too???

Storm in a teacup.

ITs just something else for his HUGE ego

howard is probably one of the worst prime ministers australia has ever had, with the possible exception of paul keating and gough whitlam. come to think of it i am trying to think of one pm whom i approve of. nothing comes to mind. 

however, the hussein supporters who snivel about invading iraq should spare a thought for the people he tortured, not to mention he tried to sabotage the world economy by shutting off oil supplies from his neighbouring countries. 

i cant see why anybody could question the indisputable fact that saddam was a maniac, much worse than hitler or stalin, and definitely had to go.

the only problem is that the invasion was led by the usa, and its sad that people still dont realise that the handfull of rich assholes who own the us government and pull its puppet strings, have a strong policy of perpetuating wars, in order to get richer off war contracts. they did the same thing in vietnam, perpetuating the war till people got sick of it and turned on them, suddenly deciding that the people who cause these wars are good guys after all.

when the coalition forces first went into iraq, i predicted then that the us govt would procrastinate the situation and it would be a never ending war in order to fleece the us taxpayers via war contracts. wish i had been wrong.

but anybody who thinks saddam hussein is the good guy in the situation doesnt deserve to live in a country as good as australia.

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