Australian Prime Minister John Howard was forced to defend himself yesterday after invoking the memory of the 88 Australians killed in the Bali bomb attacks as a justification for war in Iraq.
Mr Howard was speaking on New Zealand television on Sunday when he linked October's Bali bombings with the need to disarm Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
'We lost 88 Australians in Bali because of a wilful act of international terrorism, and we all had to grapple with that,' he said. 'I will, amongst other things, be asking the Australian people to bear those circumstances in mind if we become involved in military conflict with Iraq.'
His comments were branded inappropriate by some relatives of those who died in the Bali attack. They pointed out there was no proof the Iraqi regime had anything to do with the blasts.
Brian Deegan, a magistrate from South Australia who lost his son Joshua in the Bali bombings, said he planned to write to Mr Howard urging him to withdraw the comments.
'What I'm concerned about is that the prime minister is seemingly using this tragedy to justify the possibility of further tragedy, that other tragedy having no connection whatsoever with my son's death,' Mr Deegan told ABC radio.
'The Australian government has absolutely no business, legally, morally or for any other reason, to be entering into Iraq. To use the death of 88 civilians in Bali to justify that, in my opinion, is an exercise in cynicism.'