Subjects: September 11; Iraq; Australian Embassy; United Nations
E&OE...........
GRIMSHAW:
Good morning. Indeed the Prime Minister was in Washington a year ago, when the third of the hijacked planes smashed into the nearby Pentagon. But this time of commemoration is also one of uncertainty, with the Australian Embassy in East Timor closed until further notice due to a security threat and a very real possibility of a pre-emptive military strike on Iraq. Well, Prime Minister John Howard joins us now. Prime Minister, good morning and thank you for being with us.
PRIME MINISTER:
Good morning, Tracey.
GRIMSHAW:
You have attended and watched now the memorial services of the past 24-hours. What are your overall feelings?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I'm very moved by it as I'm sure millions are. It was indefensible, unmitigated evil. They were innocent people. It can't be justified by any twisted political or ideological doctrine. And I think that's the central message that comes from it. I am hearing the feed [inaudible] from America. I am finding it a bit hard to concentrate, I'm sorry.
GRIMSHAW:
We'll turn that down, I apologise. We seem to have that problem. We have talked many times over the past year of how life has changed since September 11. Have you reflected on how your life has changed, how your approach to life has changed?
PRIME MINISTER:
When something like this happens, you grab hold even harder and more passionately to those around you, your loved ones. You are, I know it's an old clich, reminded of the fragility of life. You are reminded of the random nature of disaster. You are reminded that it could have been you as easily as somebody else and there's no moral reason why it should be somebody else and not you. Those things do pass through your mind. We all are a little older, and a little wiser, and a little more sober as a result. But on the other hand, you reflect on the tremendous tenacity of people, the spirit and courage they displayed – that's the hope that comes out of this. And I don't think my life and my attitude has changed to the extent that I';ve become a permanently more pessimistic person. I am certainly a more wary person about how you handle potential threats, and I think that's an issue that has to be very much in the minds of the Australian people over the weeks and the months ahead. But you never lose hope and I still invest an enormous amount of hope in mankind and humanity. I think it's incredible the spirit that people have displayed. And I think that has been the positive, if I can put it like that, but it has certainly been for so many tens of thousands of people an unutterably sad occasion and it will be so for many years into the future. And of course it hit people from all around the world. New York, if there is a world capital, it's New York and it's affected so many people.
GRIMSHAW:
People, victims families and I suppose the rest of us, want to move on but it's hard to do that when al-Qaeda still exists. Even now, Embassies including our own are closed due to terrorist threats and there is this imminent threat of a war in Iraq. It's hard to move on with that background, isn't it?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, it is and it isn't. I mean, you move on in the sense that you don't forget the tragedy and you don't forget the lessons it teaches you, you are guided by them, but move on in the sense that we can't be afraid to live. We have to keep going, otherwise the terrorists do win.
GRIMSHAW:
When President Bush addresses the United Nations tonight, our time, will we hear the mountain of evidence against Saddam Hussein?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, there's an enormous amount of evidence there already. I don't know exactly what is in the President's speech, but there's plenty of evidence in the public domain already. I think what the President will be saying to the United Nations tonight, is do your job. I hope he does because if the United Nations were to do its job, if the United Nations had done its job over the last four years, we would not now be in the situation that we are. And I expect the President to make it plain that he wants, as we do, compliance by Iraq with previous Security Council resolutions. If Iraq were to obey those unconditionally, then this situation would be transformed overnight. It's Iraq's failure to comply and the failure of the United Nations to enforce compliance, which is really the issue at stake over Iraq, not the behaviour of the United States.
GRIMSHAW:
Are you so convinced of the evidence that you fear the consequences of not acting against Iraq, either militarily or with re-instated weapons inspections?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes, I do. I believe that on the evidence, and there are people right across the political spectrum around the world who are saying that the evidence indicates that Iraq does have chemical and biological weapons, does have a nuclear aspiration, which could turn into a reality if she got hold of certain materials, probably needed from overseas. Now, there's not a lot of argument about that. I mean that's a view that British Labor Prime Minister Tony Blair has, it's a view that Richard Butler the former head of the weapons inspection system has, it's a view that I have, the administration has, independent think tanks have. And the argument that is being put by many, including myself, is that what September 11 has taught us is that if you don't address potential threats, they can turn into reality and they can have devastating consequences. Now we could say, well look lets take a risk, lets not do anything about it and maybe it won't happen. Maybe it won't, but what if it does? What explanation do you give the victims of the next attack if you don't do anything about it?
GRIMSHAW:
So you do you support the French proposal - give them a three-week deadline to let weapons inspectors back in, or hit them?
PRIME MINISTER:
I'm not getting into the specificity of a particular proposal. Generally, what I'm arguing for is every effort being taken by the United Nations to enforce unconditionally and without qualification, the previous resolutions of the Security Council, and that means inspectors going in and going in in circumstances where they are unhindered. And if they come to the conclusion that something ought to be dismantled, or destroyed, or further investigated, that should be able to occur without any interference. In other words, it's got to be something that can't be the subject of undermining, or sabotage, or treachery - it's got to be a genuine, open enforcement of a United Nations decision. Now, if that were to happen, you would see a transformation of this situation. I don't want a war. I have no argument with the ordinary people of Iraq; many of them are living in pathetic conditions under a tyrannical regime. I do have a concern, as many people around the world have, that if we just walk away from this and do nothing about it, we do run the risk and we've been reminded by what happened a year ago that with devastating effect, there could be further attempts. Now, that may not happen, but as I said a moment ago, what explanation do you offer future victims if they do?
GRIMSHAW:
All right, thank you for your time this morning.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you.
[ends]