I am the daughter of a veteran. I am also related to more than half our family who was in Iraq the first time and also in Iraq the second time. As well as Iraq, Vietnam, PNG etc etc etc and a whole lot of other wars. My great uncle was the bugler in Changi who did the honours each time an Australian soldier died. My family has received the highest military honours a soldier can receive in Australia.
I have read 42 of the 44 pieces of state legislation on terrorism in Australia and it makes me very scared indeed. The legislation allows for the detainment of a "non suspect" person for 7 days with a strict liability sentence of 25 years if you complain about "mistreatment," tell a partner, employer, family or friend where you were and what happened to you.
Australia has the most draconian terrorism laws in the world, far outstripping the US and the UK. In the US and the UK your terrorism laws can be struck down as unconstitutional by your courts. Not so in Australia. The reading I have done to date and the legal professionals that I have spoke to confirm that our terrorism laws are not tempered by our constitution in particular Article 75 of our constitution has been jettisoned in that the jurisdiction of the High Court has been cut out of the whole process.
I was horrified at the torture. There is no need for this. Everyone in intelligence communities knows that this produces unreliable information. If we are to maintain a moral high ground then we need to act as if the principles that so many of my family had died for in the last four generations matter. I was interested in the dialogue between the FBI and CIA (in the Australia news) about how indeed the FBI could get the same amount of information out of a person by questioning that the CIA could get out with torture.
I am against the death penalty and I was angry that they killed an unarmed man. If we are democracies and we believe in the rule of law then he should have been arrested and put to trial. Otherwise in my own experience and opinion we are no better than the people we criticise.
My father, as a type of war hero, has been excused all his violent and sexually abusive behaviour because he lived through X amount of wars. This is crap. I don't have to hear it. But it seems everyone wants to point out to me that he suffered a great deal. I also suffered a great deal with him beating the crap out of us every day. Literally beating the crap out of my disabled brother. The sexual abuse, the sticking of forks in my arm, pouring of boiling water - it is no excuse that he was in a war.
I am also very angry at the ways in which veterans and their families are treated but that is for another day.
To be attacked for having different opinions is startling as democracy is not only underpinned by the rule of law but the freedom of speech. I am so glad that all my great, greats and great uncles are not hear to see this, as it would have outraged them.
When I saw the 2010 story of the 4 year old girl water boarded by his father who returned from guantanamo bay I thought I lived that life - that is what my life is. My father continues to intermittently stalk me at the age of 41. I ran away from home when I was 15. Because of his status and security clearance blah blah there is not getting away from him for me.
I have been a political activist in Australia for 26 years now and I have hung up my hat in fear of the consequences when those terrorism laws broaden out. My feeling, is that in Australia, the terrorists have already won as we have given up so many of our freedoms, we get attacked for having a different opinion, we are not to talk about the elephants in the room, being anti war is being anti troups, all debate is shut down because we might upset people, our rule of law is undermined, we can now justify killing unarmed people, we can justify torturing people and all the voiding rights and responsibilities under our Australian Constitution means that it is not worth the paper it is written on.
It is a very scary time to be someone who is interested in human rights, the environment, refugees, constitutional law, freedom of speech, the rule of law, transparency of law, procedural fairness in the law, all of which underpin the Western Adversarial Legal System. My family died protecting this. How dare people violate our democratic principles, as if their sacrifices and deaths mean nothing.
I don't say things in front of other veterans and their families, unless they try to shove it down my throat - then I leave. I have spent 26 years hearing from friends of the family and the extended network of the military and the church what a great man my father was/is. And for them this might be true for them. It is not true for me.
I live in poverty. I live with great stress and angst. My belief is that my family had grown without the last four generations of the men (and some women) going to war then perhaps my life would have been a bit better. True it might not have been. But I am allowed to think and speak of these thoughts from time to time. Apparently (though we don't act like we are a democracy at times) Australia is a still democracy.
These are my feelings and opinions. I respect that no one has to agree or disgree with them. I respect that people will not like what I wrote. I respect that some people will relate to what I am writing.
ms spock
