Australian Official Says She Was Fired Over Iraq Briefings

A senior Australian defense advisor said she was fired because she refused to write media briefing notes for the government that lied about the threat of Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction.

In an interview with the Sunday Herald Sun newspaper in Melbourne, Jane Errey said she took leave rather than peddle propaganda about Iraq.

“Anything I was doing with respect to the war was making me uncomfortable,” she told the newspaper.

“Then to have to brief the minister and fundamentally give him -- even though I didn’t write it -- lines of propaganda that I didn’t believe with respect to the war was beyond what I was prepared to do. I wouldn’t lie or mislead the public.”

When the government sent 2,000 troops to take part in last year’s U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, the threat of Saddam Hussein’s alleged weapons of mass destruction was one of the main justifications.

Defense Minister Robert Hill told television’s Nine Network that Errey was fired last week because of a “management issue” that had nothing to do with Iraq briefings.

“It has nothing to do with work she may have done in the past,” Hill told the network.