jet political!

Below is an email I received today from Get Up! (see under the links section in the sidebar). Have a read and check out the video. Pretty full on shit. The Howard government really sucks. Sorry if this is a bit Australian-specific but I thought instead of forwarding the email to five friends I'd post it up for all to see.


Dear friends,

We're 11 weeks into the Cole inquiry over the AWB wheat bribes scandal and everyone's eyes have glazed over. In this drawn-out tale of corporate scheming, accountability loopholes and legalese it's become almost impossible to keep track of the facts, much less why the public should care.

Unfortunately, this just lets the government off the hook - which is just what they're counting on.

The real story here is simple and very serious. Under the Howard government, Australia's monopoly wheat exporter paid Saddam Hussein's government almost $300 million in bribes, a rort of the oil-for-food program that Saddam used to get around UN trade sanctions, and buy weapons.

The Howard government received at least 24 clear warnings of these bribes, but instead of investigating the allegations, it chose to vigorously defend AWB to our allies and the UN.

Last October, when the UN inquiry finally revealed what the government should have known all along, the official reaction was a stock-in-trade response: deny and delay. Eventually, they announced an inquiry with limited powers to question the government; silencing the critics while ensuring a third party gets all the blame.

It is crucial that people understand the seriousness of this scandal before it slips off the radar. We've created an ad to explain it --- can you forward it to five people today?

Click the link below to watch the ad and send it to your friends:

http://www.getup.org.au/campaign/AuthorisedBribes

Sometimes a bit of direct humour can send a strong message. Australians deserve to understand why AWB matters.

Thanks for being a part of this,

The GetUp team