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- GRAHAM ROWLANDS
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- John Howard’s Pre-Emptive Strikes
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- Good afternoon, ladies & gentlemen of
the media.
- With respect, that’s a quite
inappropriate remark.
- All we’ve said is that, if all other
measures
- have been exhausted, then as a last
resort
- we wouldn’t rule out a pre-emptive
strike.
- Now with respect, that’s just
disrespectful.
- This media conference? You’re going
too far.
- It’s not a pre-emptive or
pre-anything strike.
- I am happy to accommodate your questions
- but I’m not prepared to clarify our
policy
- in an atmosphere of out & out
hostility.
- Pre-emption isn’t about our troops
landing
- on Asian soil – not Indonesia, not
Malaysia
- not Thailand, not the Philippines. Not
anywhere.
- In Asian countries? Ah yes, well in
Asia. In.
- If Australian lives are threatened by
terrorists
- (ransom, torture, humiliation,
denunciation)
- well then, of course our people will go
in.
- Any government would want to help its
citizens.
- There’s no question of invading a
sovereign state.
- Hubris? Look, I really thought we’d
moved on.
- It’s true that Australian voters in
their wisdom
- have yet again prevailed upon us to serve
them
- but hubris is the furthest thing from my
thoughts.
- I don’t have hubris. My Cabinet
doesn’t have hubris.
- Indeed my whole government is a
hubris-free zone.
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