But it is not enough to call the war a “mistake.” Because Australia has ratified the International Criminal Court (ICC), Australians can indeed be held accountable and tried by the ICC, if the government of Australia is unwilling or unable to prosecute them for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide itself. Therefore, if a case should be submitted to the Prosecutor’s Office against Howard and others for their involvement in the war in Iraq, and if the Prosecutor finds evidence that they have indeed committed war crimes, crimes against humanity, or genocide, as described by the Rome Statute, it may then prosecute those individuals, even if the government of Australia does not show willingness or ability to prosecute them itself.

Under precedent set by the US in the Nuremburg Trial after World War II, belligerents like John Howard could be charged with a variety of crimes including a war of aggression, crimes against peace and crimes against humanity.

A trial will be good news to many Iraqis, but unfortunately, it will be of no comfort to the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis killed, wounded or brutalized by coalition forces. Nor will it compensate for the senseless devastation of the country.

Australian involvement in the attack has been downplayed, but it should not be underestimated. Although only 2,000 Australian troops took part, Australian airplanes dropped 46,000 kgs of bombs and likely caused more devastation to the country than the total 180,000 US troops. Ironically, Australians managed to target 3,000 sites for bombing, but could not even identify one site used for weapons of mass destruction.

Australia is set to profit by gaining reconstruction contracts - simply stealing from the Iraqi people. Tragically, even the UN is stealing from the Iraqi people. Under US/UN sanctions more than one third of the money from the food-for-oil program ($46 billion) went to Kuwait for war reparations. Despite the fact that Iraqis are desperate for money as thousands die in their hospitals and their war-ravaged country needs to be rebuilt, the UN has just given Kuwait another $2 billion for “environmental damage” during the Kuwait war.

In trying to reward Australia for taking part in the attack, the US has banned other countries that did not support the war from bidding on contracts; however, in reality only those countries that did not take part in the war have the credibility and legitimacy to help in the reconstruction process - Australia has blood on its hands.

Increased sabotage means that it may be years before the US and Australia can use Iraqi oil to fund the reconstruction; and the cost of occupation continues to rise.

Australians that were quiet during the war have been making increasing vocal attacks on John Howard, although it is general pressure from overseas that is having the greatest effect and is expected to continue.

Lobby groups, such as The International Action Center founded by former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark, openly show their resistance to the war on and occupation of Iraq. Clark and other presidential hopefuls continue to attack Bush in the lead up to the US elections and this is rubbing off on the Australian Prime Minister. Anti-war web sites such as Antiwar.com are still fighting the information war: “we are dedicated to the proposition that they are not going to be allowed to get away with it.”

“The world wants the U.S. occupation to end. The U.S. soldiers in Iraq want to go home. The ‘coalition of the willing’ lied to the people, to the Congress, and to the United Nations as it raced to wage war against Iraq.”

In Britain, opinion polls put Mr. Blair’s popularity at an all time low. 66% of the British public now believe they were misled (BBC newspoll). Moreover, the Hellenic Bar Association (Greece) has laid 22 charges against Blair in the International Criminal Court for war atrocities in Iraq.

History has recorded the attack on Iraq as an “illegal war.” The UN Security Council has named the US, Britain and Australia as “the belligerents” and the attack as a “war of aggression.” In many countries, parliaments have passed resolutions deploring the US-led attack on Iraq.

Sadly, US atrocities continue in Iraq. One Iraqi hospital reported that over 400 civilians have been killed by US troops in the past month. In total, over 10,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed, 20,000 have been seriously injured, 10,000 imprisoned, and the population of over 20 million has been devastated as a consequence of this illegal war.

But anti-US sentiment may be much higher than that. The US has either directly or indirectly killed more than 1 million people in the region over the last 30 years: 300,000 Iranians in the early eighties, 200,000 Iraqis in the first Gulf war, 500,000 children because of US/UN sanctions - not to mention the most recent attack in which the toll continues to rise.

The Australian administration is now trying to cover up its lies and deceptions. Yet, increasing access to information has made it difficult for them to write history. The Howard government is losing the media war despite its information blackouts, and control of print media, television and radio stations.

Australian media has tried to portray our troops as heroes, but it has been difficult to convince the public that they deserve medals or can show any honor for an attack where most of those killed were women and children.

An alternative opinion that shows the truth has been a shock to many Australians. Reporting is different in the Arab media: Americans and Australians are clearly the bad guys and images of war feature more graphic civilian casualties, particularly women and children.

US propaganda in Australian media is disgraceful. Take for example the case of little Ali Abbas who had his arms blown off, then was paraded around smiling and waving his new little plastic arms. Surely, he will at some point remember that it was the coalition who blew them off in the first place.

The world does not forget atrocities. The US demonised and chased Saddam for more than 35 years. And there is no reason to think that the Iraqi people and, in fact, the majority of the world will be any different in their feelings towards the US for the attack on Iraq. It should not be forgotten that Saddam was an ally of the US during his greatest atrocities, and that George Bush Snr sanctioned the gassing of the Kurds and the Shiites after the first Gulf war.

As global justice and organizations such as the International Criminal Court continue to gain strength, we can only hope that peace will come to Iraq and those responsible for the attack will come to justice.