{"href":"http://player.captivate.fm/services/oembed?url=http%3A%2F%2Fplayer.captivate.fm%2Fepisode%2F22acc28f-e46a-46f2-8548-259ef29e9d21","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Captivate.FM","provider_url":"https://www.captivate.fm","width":600,"height":200,"type":"rich","html":"","title":"Episode 251 \u2013 Both China and the USA threatened Australia","description":"
\n 
\nIn the same week, we learned that China threatened us with economic sanctions for wanting a coronavirus inquiry and the USA threatened our alliance if we refused to sign the TPP.
\nGuess which threat got more publicity.
\nThe Afghanistan War: Australia\u2019s longest running deception
\nA well-researched article.
\nWhat our prime ministers said about Australia\u2019s longest running military engagement, the War in Afghanistan.\u00a0Michelle Fahy\u2019s\u00a0report follows secret information about the Afghanistan war obtained by\u00a0The Washington Post.
\nAfter a three-year legal battle,\u00a0The Washington Post\u00a0in December 2019 secured formerly top secret US government information about the Afghanistan war, collected for an internal review,\u00a0Lessons Learned. It contains interviews with hundreds of military leaders, diplomats, aid workers and Afghan officials. Their account of the war \u00a0\u2018violently contradicts\u2019 what the US government and three successive US presidents have told Americans, and the world, about Afghanistan.
\nKey\u00a0revelations\u00a0by\u00a0The Washington Post:
\n
\n* Behind-the-scenes consensus was that the war was not well-managed. There was no strategy, no real plan, no real knowledge of who the enemy was.
\n* What started as retaliation for 9/11 to fight al Qaeda soon became muddled. Within six months al Qaeda\u2019s leaders had been captured, killed or had fled.
\n* Confusion reigned about why Americans were still there, and what the US was fighting for. Planning was a disaster.
\n* Leaders knew things were not going well. Yet, in public, they were claiming \u201cit\u2019s a tough fight, but we\u2019re making progress: we just need more money and more troops.\u201d
\n
\nThese revelations came as no surprise to Australians who remembered Vietnam, and who have read accounts of Australia\u2019s involvement in Afghanistan, much like\u00a0Clinton Fernandes\u00a0in 2019. Australian prime ministers, other senior politicians, and military leaders, have known this for years. The latest\u00a0online bulletin\u00a0from Australians for War Powers Reform have collected statements from our leaders in a three-part series, together with revelations from WikiLeaks cables. It shows that the same long-running deception of the public about Afghanistan occurred in Australia.
\nAustralia in Afghanistan
\nAustralia has been involved in Afghanistan since 2001. It\u2019s the longest war in Australia\u2019s history. Despite our participation, which\u00a0continues, the revelations by the\u00a0Washington Post\u00a0have engendered no corresponding examination by Australian media of the parallel 18 year trail of lies and obfuscation by successive Australian governments and military leaders under five prime ministers. There\u2019s been no public grilling of former PMs or military chiefs as to what they knew of the chaos in the US government and how that impacted decision-making in Australia. Why not?
\nThe cost of the war to Australia has been significant:
\n
\n* More than\u00a026,000\u00a0Australian soldiers served in Afghanistan from 2001-2014
\n* 42 Australians\u00a0have been killed while serving in Afghanistan
\n* 261\u00a0personnel have been seriously wounded
\n* The cost to date\u00a0exceeds $10 billion,","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300,"thumbnail_url":"https://artwork.captivate.fm/085762e2-797c-4ef4-9b10-434ecde61c07/logo2018v2.jpg"}