John Howard and 9/11

Pangur

Donor
John Howard the prime minister of Australia was in washington 9/11. I have wondered from time to time what would have been the effect on Aussie politics if he had been killed in say the WTC? Who would have succeeded him as prime minister? Would there have been a greater Aussie involvement in Afganistan?
 
John Howard the prime minister of Australia was in washington 9/11. I have wondered from time to time what would have been the effect on Aussie politics if he had been killed in say the WTC? Who would have succeeded him as prime minister? Would there have been a greater Aussie involvement in Afganistan?

WTC was in new York.

However is he was visiting the White House and it got hit? Definitely an Australian reaction.
 
I'm thinking Costello would succeed him, Australia going to go nuts over Howard dying though, increased Australian involvement is more then a given in Afghanistan. As far as I remember Howard was still popular in his third term then again I was ten back then, at least the liberal party and I wouldn't be surprised if the rest of Australia to is going to sanctify him.

It would probably easier to drum up support around the world for the war on terror if a leader of a nation dies in the attack.
 
John Howard the prime minister of Australia was in washington 9/11. I have wondered from time to time what would have been the effect on Aussie politics if he had been killed in say the WTC? Who would have succeeded him as prime minister? Would there have been a greater Aussie involvement in Afganistan?
Peter Costello would've become Prime Minister. And I'd say so, yes, probably.

As far as I remember Howard was still popular in his third term then again I was ten back then, at least the liberal party and I wouldn't be surprised if the rest of Australia to is going to sanctify him.
Hahaha, no. Half the country liked him. The other half hated his guts.

There's probably be a shitload of whitewashing of Howard in the immediate aftermath, though. The 2001 election probably sees a bigger swing to the Coalition in marginal seats.
 
Hahaha, no. Half the country liked him. The other half hated his guts.

There's probably be a shitload of whitewashing of Howard in the immediate aftermath, though. The 2001 election probably sees a bigger swing to the Coalition in marginal seats.

As I said mate I was ten, I agree with you about the whitewashing. How many PM's have died in office anyway I can only think of two off the top of my head.
 
And niether of them were killed by anything other then natural causes (I believe Harold Holt died of a Heart Attack adn his body washed out to sea).

I think we would have seen a bigger reaction here in Australia then in America because even though it didn't happen to us directly our leader was killed. Expect huge amounts of racism againts muslims and middle easterners. Maybe even a surge in nationalism and patriotism withmany wanting to join the armed services to fight.
 
How many PM's have died in office anyway I can only think of two off the top of my head.
Three: Joseph Lyons, John Curtin and Harold Holt.

TaintedTamt said:
And niether of them were killed by anything other then natural causes (I believe Harold Holt died of a Heart Attack adn his body washed out to sea).
Since he disappeared without a trace there's no way to know for sure. He might have simply drowned (it was very rough surf at the time).

Don't know about Australian politics, but what would a Costello government look like?

Marc A
Basically the same as Howard except that Costello's a republican.
 

Hyperion

Banned
So Howard gets sympathy when he dies. His party picks up seats, and Australia is involved a bit more in Afghanistan, possibly doing a bit of a buildup of the military over the next few years.

I'm going to guess Iraq gets dragged into Iraq again same as OTL. Depending on if Australia has begun a token military buildup, I could see the force sent to Iraq being somewhat larger than OTL, though not by much. Say a thousand extra ground troops, maybe 1,500 max extra if some reserves are activated. Throw in a squadron of F-111 bombers as well.
 
I think long term it would change very little. you would get more support innitialy for the the coalition but as the war drags on they would lose and you would get just as big a victory for labor eventualy as you did in OTL.
 
Assuming the Bali bombings aren't butterflied (admitedly its likely they would) the fallout for Australia's Muslim population isn't going to be pretty.
 
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