Right Pulse

The Australian newspaper has published a pretty despicable article, designed to bring into question John Howard’s suitability for the Medal of Freedom, the US’s highest civilian honour.

Howard’s US award ‘lessens’ medal

The Australian managed to find the son of a medal recipient that was willing to criticise Howard for being awarded the medal. The son said:

“I think George Bush, as a token of appreciation for Howard, thought he’d do something nice for him,” said Mr McCarthy, who describes himself as apolitical. “It tends to debase the whole thing.”

As if Mr McCarthy knows the mind of the US President; he is hardly an authority on the medal and who should qualify for it. His father won it not him. The title of the article hardly justifies the body, it is pretty weak stuff.

There is no mention of Howard’s role in East Timorese independence, bringing stability to the Solomon Islands, his response to the Bali bombings and the Indonesian Tsunami and his immediate support for the USA after 9/11 – including committing Australian troops to Afghanistan. Then there is the issue of Iraq, and regardless of what your opinion is of the war, a brutal dictator is gone and a democracy is in place and there are more Iraqi’s alive today than would have been the case under Saddam’s rule and U.N sanctions.

Despite all the potentially destruction issues listed above, our relationship with the East Asian region and especially Indonesia has never been better. Howard became Australia’s most internationally respected Prime Minister since Menzies. He also consistently ranked as the world’s most popular conservative leader. Howard is fully deserving of the US Medal of Freedom and no two bit article written by a journalist with a vendetta to satisfy, is going to change history.