Posted on 09/05/2005 5:05:28 PM PDT by naturalman1975
CANBERRA: The government should have ignored directives from the US State Department barring foreign consular representatives from hurricane devastated New Orleans and sent a rescue mission, Labor says.
Opposition Leader Kim Beazley said today Australian troops on postings in the United States could have been sent to the disaster zone where up to 20 Australians remain unaccounted for.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said today he is concerned in particular for the safety of two Australians who have not been heard from since the hurricane struck.
Mr Beazley said the Australian representatives could have talked their way through as television news crews had done.
"You don't just stop because you have met your first barrier," Mr Beazley told reporters.
"When Australian lives are at risk you don't allow yourself to be tied up by red tape."
An Australian diplomat has at last been granted permission to enter devastated New Orleans for a few hours to search for the missing Australians.
Mr Beazley said the consular role seemed to have fallen onto commercial television news crews who assisted Australians in need.
He said the United States was preoccupied with its own problems in providing disaster relief and so would not be concerned with 70-80 Australians.
"That is why we need to get in. If television crews were able to get themselves round this area the situation was not so fraught that officials and service personnel could not have done the same," he said.
"You have got your special mates in your equivalent defence forces in the US. You ring up your special mates and you jump on a chopper.
"Australian servicemen are terrific at this."
Service personnel deployed for instance at the embassy in Washington could have been sent, he said, adding: "These blokes can talk themselves onto anything under any circumstances."
Mr Beazley said he believed the government had been prepared to turn its back on Australians in distress for too long.
"It should never have been permitted to get to that,'' he said.
Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd said the government should have sought to contact its special friends in Washington.
"You get through to somebody in the inner circle and say 'guys we know you have got a huge priority on your hands here but we are not about to simply take the brush off'," he said.
That's great...if Australia really wants to engage in an overt Act of War on the United States.
Funny. Do they plan to storm the beaches?
He knows this is something you can't just do.
Nothing prevented them from sending in the SASR.
Hey... weren't there pictures of some Kangaroos caught in the flood waters????
As an American citizen, I support them attacking the NO dome to rescue those hostages. Any human being would.
Kangaroo b#lls, Kangaroo b#lls
great taste from down under!
They are simply reading our "leaders" lack of response to the Mexican invasion.Therefore, if Mexico nation can cause its people to invade the USA with impunity why not Australia? They are just as good as Mexico!
Just a month or two back, many FR's were calling for a simalar tack regarding Aruba.
"This is really out of character and reveals just how desperate he is to score political points."
Silly posturing, really, and very transparant.
Is there any word on the missing Aussies? How sad. Pray they are safe and thanks to all of our friends in the world who are helping us in our hour of need. We are truly blessed.
"overt act of war." LOL!
Silly posturing, yes, but also completely unnecessary. Most US military personnel have worked with Australian military personnel at one point or another, and we're highly unlikely to fire on each other for any reason. The most likely scenario is that we would all team up and gripe about what a bunch of idiots we all work for.
There were no hostages in the NO dome.
Where? Who? Thread numbers?
I don't know where you live, but where I do, unwelcomed troops are referred to as "an invasion force."
Where I live, a platoon of Australian soldiers paddling toward the SuperDome after a natural disaster to rescue their countrymen, while locals and the NG sit on their helmets, would not be considered an "overt act of war." However, I must admit, where we live, many people have common sense enough to not exaggerate to make their simple point. And they are honest enough to admit it, when they do.
So nice to know you so readily surrender our sovereignty and national borders to other countries, pal. Remind me to never count on you when America really needs her countrymen.
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