After John Howard took Australia to war in Iraq, he was scarcely held to account. Instead, he was re-elected

Two decades after the American-led "coalition of the willing" invaded Iraq and toppled Saddam Hussein, Australia seems to have drawn few lessons from the folly of its participation. The preservation of the US-Australia alliance, the primary reason for the conservative Howard government's participation, still largely impels Australia's foreign and defence policies. If evidence of this was needed exactly 20 years after the invasion, witness this week's $368bn commitment to the Aukus submarine deal which consequently provokes China into greater potential adversarialism against Australia alongside joined-at-the-hip ally, the US. It is clear that the Howard government largely dodged the politically ignominious…