Former Australian Prime Minister John Howard defended his decision to commit troops to the Iraq War in 2004, despite acknowledging that the intelligence regarding Iraq's possession of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) was unreliable. New cabinet documents released by the National Archives of Australia shed light on the internal debates surrounding the war.
The year 2004 witnessed one of Australia's most successful Olympic campaigns, with national icon Ian Thorpe bringing home two golds in the pool in Athens. It was also a big year for then-prime minister John Howard , who had won his fourth election. But not everything was going swimmingly for the man who would become the second-longest-serving prime minister in Australian history.
"Would that include, if required, in the national interest, an action like that?" asked SBS political correspondent Anna Henderson, referring to the bugging of a foreign government. "Well, I said, what I said, I always thought they adhere to the national interest," Howard replied. While the documents are heavily redacted, historian David Lee said there's no evidence it was a matter considered by cabinet.
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