department of forgotten affairs

I came across this transcript from February last year while looking for something else, and thought it interesting how it shows the complete meekness of the Howard Government in its relationship with the Bush Administration regarding Iraq. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said:

"I just wanted to say something about the statement that President Bush has made this morning. We are very pleased that in his resolve to ensure that Saddam Hussein is disarmed of chemical, biological and even in time nuclear weapons, President Bush has said that the United States will look to a second resolution from the United Nations Security Council...President Bush's statement today is encouraging. It demonstrates that the United States is prepared to stick with the UN process and to exhaust the UN process, whichever way that may happen. So it may be that there'll be a second resolution put to the Security Council. We hope if those circumstances do arise, and they will only arise if the weapons inspectors continue to report a lack of co-operation from Iraq, if those circumstances do arise we very much hope that the Security Council will show strength and determination in upholding its own previous unanimously supported resolution. Now, when I met with Secretary of State Colin Powell a fortnight ago in Switzerland, I said to him, as I have said to him over the telephone on previous occasions, that I did want the United States, if the worse came to the worst, to go back to the Security Council for a second resolution. I thought at the time he seemed sympathetic to that, and I think I said so publicly. And I know that the British Government has been urging President Bush also to keep the option of a second resolution wide open. So I'm delighted President Bush has shown the willingness to listen to his close allies and friends on this issue, and is prepared to consider going down that path. That is good news. And I think Australians will be pleased about that because I think the sense here in Australia is that people very much want the UN processes to be fully exhausted. And President Bush is showing an admirable determination to stick with UN processes." (emphasis added)

We all know what happened next.

elsewhere: Howard completely contradicts himself.