Australian sailors to help train Iraqis

Australian Broadcasting Company ^ | January 23 2004

[knighthawk]

Australia is to increase its military presence in Iraq, sending 12 sailors to help rebuild the Iraqi Navy.

The Australian sailors will be deployed to the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr next month to help establish a coastal defence force.

They will work with British and US Navy personnel in training Iraqi sailors and navy personnel in patrol boat and small vessel operations.

Defence Minister Robert Hill has also announced that Australian air traffic controllers deployed at Baghdad International Airport in the wake of the Iraq war will now stay until May.

But 61 members of the security team that protects Australian officials in Iraq will return to Australia, arriving in Darwin tomorrow night.

Senator Hill says the focus of Iraq's coastal defence force will be on deterring and intercepting vessels smuggling oil and contraband goods.

He says Australia is looking at what more it can do to assist in the rebuilding of Iraq.

"We're still looking at the wider area of military training," he said.

"We've had a small number of training staff in relation of the new Iraqi army. We're still looking at whether that maybe further enhanced in the future as well."

Defence Force chief General Peter Cosgrove says a new group of Australian sailors going to Iraq will be replaced after six months.

General Cosgrove says he does not know how long it will take to establish the new force, and concedes it will be a risky job.

"We all know it's still a dangerous place and we'd like to see it improve and we see it as improving," she said.

"In this you'd want them to be vigilant and we'll take extraordinary precautions for their safety."

[ItsOurTimeNow]

I'm confused.

I thought there was "no plan" and that Bush was "going it alone"?

At least, that's what the Dims have been saying for the last year...

[knighthawk]

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