Letter
Whitlam's dismissal and the CIA
Many thanks for the great analysis by Brian Toohey regarding the US imperial project in Australia. The article is revelatory about the sheer reach of US intelligence gathering in this country, not just in its power over Australian control of its foreign policy settings but the US assumptions about how far it could intrude with impunity into our politics process.
We have always connived in keeping a dependency relationship in place. It is no wonder the US has been able to take for granted our mirroring of US military interventions, not for a moment needing to doubt our automatic adherence to security fantasies like ANZUS. Kissinger’s assumptions about our willing colonial status and his prerogatives in punishing errant states represent the reality of the Nixon doctrine – world policeman as bastard cop, using Australia’s sense of distance and isolation to enhance an inferiority complex.
Toohey has been synonymous with the best traditions of investigative journalism for decades and his characteristically excellent article reminds us how, 50 years on, the depressing fact remains that our bunyip establishment still can’t apply Whitlam-style independence of mind to our foreign policy out of fear of our great and powerful friend tearing up our life insurance.
— Daniel Dennis from New Farm, Brisbane