Tuesday, June 07, 2011

Unions: Afghanistan war and drones

Victorian Trades Hall Secretary Brian Boyd has called for Australia to quit the war in Afghanistan, and has accused coalition troops of war crimes.

In making the call, Brian Boyd criticised Prime Minister Julia Gillard for her comments at the recent ALP state conference that Australia was a nation at war and determined to "prevail in Afghanistan".

Mr Boyd said there was no point to the war and Australia should pull out its troops immediately. "I think it's gone on far too long wasting a lot of good Australian lives for virtually nothing," he said. "I don't think we should waste the lives of any more Aussie soldiers."

In a report published on the Trades Hall website titled "Good Riddance Bin Laden - But West Hypocrisy Continues", Mr Boyd also said it was time to "get serious about war crimes", pointing to civilian deaths caused by US drone strikes.

"What about US activities in Afghanistan and Pakistan? Forget about a loser like Bin Laden," he wrote, "let's talk about the hundreds, if not thousands of civilians killed by remote control."

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