re: john howard - timor
Regardless of the Whitlam government's motives for encouraging Indonesia to invade it was soon apparent that a mistake had been made. Indonesian military murdered Australian journalists then dressed them in Fretilin uniforms and took photos. The population continued resistance and the Timorese fought a guerilla war for decades.
The thing that peeves me is successive Australian governments refused to recognise the mistake and refused to recognise East Timor for 25 years.