Doctors Seek War Crimes Charge Against former Australia PM Howard

Howard war charges bid
June 3, 2008
AN AUSTRALIAN doctors' group is pushing to have former prime minister John Howard charged with war crimes for sending troops to Iraq.

The Medical Association for the Prevention of War said the war was illegal because it was not backed by the United Nations.

Association spokesman Robert Marr said Mr Howard committed Australian troops to the war on the basis of misleading information about weapons of mass destruction. He said the medical group was supporting a legal brief prepared by International Criminal Court Action Victoria that would be sent to the court. Dr Marr said more than 650,000 Iraqi citizens had died as a result of the war.

Mr Howard said last week that while the war's cost had been heavy he believed it had been right. He said he would not have brought the troops home at this point.

BRENDAN NICHOLSON