Louise Barry is a young Australian who barely survived the July 7, 2005 bombings in London. She hit the headlines two weeks after the terror attacks when she confronted prime minister John Howard, during a hospital visit, on whether the bombers had attacked London because of the US-UK-Australian War On Iraq.
Two years later, and only days after another series of attempted bomb attacks on London and Glasgow, Louise Barry will appear in a TV commercial where she demands that John Howard get Australia out of the Iraq War before more Australians are killed or injured in revenge terror attacks.
Barry reportedly thought up the idea of the commercial, and wrote her own lines.
"You got us in this mess," Barry says, addressing the prime minister, "it's your responsibility to get us out."
"The situation clearly is not getting any better. I don't want what happened to me to happen to
other Australians, or anyone else for that matter."
“The recent attacks in the UK brought back some really painful memories."
“Wasn't going to war in Iraq supposed to make us safer, not put us in more danger?
“I don't have all the answers and I'm not an expert, but I do know something about the real cost of terrorism.”
During the July 7, 2005, attacks in London, Barry was on a train hit by one bomber. She was uninjured. But the bus she was directed to get onto, after being evacuated from the underground train line, was torn apart by another bomber an hour after the first blasts.John Howard visited Barry in a London hospital on July 20, 2005. She was recovering from a broken neck, shrapnel wounds and severe burns. Howard was expecting to visit an Australian victim of the bombing who would be thankful for his visit, and might want to ask him some questions about terror. He had no idea she was going to confront him over the connections between the increased threat of terrorism to Australia resulting from its involvement in the invasion and occupation of Iraq.
During that hospital visit,Louise Barry's concerns about the links between the July 7 bombings and the Iraq War were all but dismissed by the prime minister :
LOUISE BARRY: What do you think about all this sort of stuff then? Do you reckon... 'cause everyone says that it's all about 'cause of the Iraq War. Do you reckon?She sure does.
JOHN HOWARD: No, I don't. But, you know, different people have different views. I don't. I mean, they had a go at us and they had a go at other people before Iraq started. I think it's less likely in Australia.
LOUISE BARRY: You reckon?
JOHN HOWARD: A bit less likely, yeah. Less likely in Austra...
LOUISE BARRY: Why?
JOHN HOWARD: Why? I don't think there's the concentration of groups in Australia that might produce it, that's why.
LOUISE BARRY: Yeah.
JOHN HOWARD: But I think it's still possible, and I've said that, and it could happen.
LOUISE BARRY: Pretty scary stuff though.
JOHN HOWARD: It can happen anywhere, unfortunately.
LOUISE BARRY: Yeah, I know.
Howard was clearly uncomfortable during the questioning by Barry, which is the usual reaction from Howard when he hears something he doesn't like, or is confronted by an Australian who hasn't been screened by his minders, in case they raise too much truth reality or truth in his presence. When Barry confronted Howard, he quickly became annoyed, dismissive and rude. Like a petulant child.
The commercials are being paid for by political action group GetUp, who are also using Barry's commercial to solicit donations to buy more ad time and raise funds for further campaigns.
It's interesting to note one of Howard's comments to Barry :
"I don't think there's the concentration of groups in Australia that might produce (terror attacks)..."But that's not what Howard and terror fear mongers tell us now. We're supposed to have thousands of young Muslims in Australia who subscribe to Islamist ideology, and we could be attacked in our streets at any time.
Nothing to do with the half million people killed in the Iraq War, of course.
You can expect the usual Howard and Iraq War supporters to take cheap and nasty shots at Barry. No doubt they will claim she is being used by those evil Lefties for political purposes. Their response to Louise Barry's plea to lessen the terror threat to Australians by getting our troops out of Iraq will be as tired, propagandist and cliched as their arguments for why the War On Iraq must continue, for years to come.
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