Posted on 06/07/2004 3:01:05 AM PDT by kattracks
Pacific Rim Bureau (CNSNews.com) - Australia and the United States are close to an agreement that will allow the U.S. to have a key military training center on Australian territory.
An existing Australian base in the country's vast north will be upgraded by the U.S., and the two allies' forces will hold air, sea and land exercises from the center, Australian Defense Minister Robert Hill said.
Speaking after meeting with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in Singapore -- where both attended a regional security conference -- Hill told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that an in-principle agreement could be signed at annual ministerial talks in Washington next month.
He said the plan was "to enhance mutual capability, ensure inter-operability and to assist a critically important ally."
In a bid to pre-empt predicted opposition, Hill said the joint combined training center would not be termed a U.S. military base, and equipment and personnel would not be based there permanently.
"I think the confusion in Australia has been that people have ... assumed that the Americans would want to be basing forces in Australia, but we're not actually very conveniently located for any potential theater," he said.
The Pentagon is currently carrying out a major reassessment of troop deployments around the world, which will affect where and how U.S. forces are stationed and used.
While in Singapore, Rumsfeld spoke at a press conference about the need for "a more agile arrangement" rather than having armed forces "stuck in a static position."
Hill explained that with modern capabilities, "you don't need the same level of forward deployment that you once needed."
Hill did not identify the location for the training center, but said it would be in Queensland or the Northern Territory.
Prof. David Horner of the Strategic and Defense Studies Centre at the Australian National University said Monday a base near Katherine, south of the city of Darwin, could serve the purpose well, having already been used for joint exercises with U.S. Marines.
The Tindal Air Base hosts a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Hornet fighter squadron, and boasts numerous hangars and concrete bunkers, as well as aircraft firing ranges, he said.
Since the late 1980s, it has been used as an Australian "forward base," he said, noting that Darwin is closer to Singapore than it is to Sydney.
Tindal was also a stop for Special Forces troops on the way to East Timor during the crisis in the then Indonesian-occupied territory in 1999, and about 250 Air Force personnel from the base were deployed in Iraq during last year's hostilities.
Horner said what was now being proposed was not a huge step beyond what has already been happening in the way of joint Australia-U.S. maneuvers. But there would nonetheless be opposition.
"It will be controversial," he said. "It will be presented by the opponents as an American base in Australia. Others will say, 'There's nothing different from what's been going on for years; no-one's complained about it.' But the terminology will be the key thing here."
Horner said he expected the official opposition Labor Party to be among those critical of the plan.
With an election due later this year, Labor and Prime Minister John Howard's ruling coalition have been clashing over policies relating to the alliance with the U.S. and Australian involvement in Iraq.
Horner stressed that despite the political differences, Labor did not want to discard the alliance.
"The American alliance being a key feature of Australian defense policy is something that has pretty well bipartisan support."
The other likely source of any criticism is Southeast Asia, and especially the governments of Indonesia and Malaysia, both of which have been unhappy with the notion that Australia could play a "deputy sheriff" role for the U.S. in the region.
Horner said Australia's ties with the U.S. were not necessarily always regarded in the region as negative, however.
Australia is also involved in regional alliances such as the "Five Powers" defense pact involving Australia, Britain, New Zealand, Singapore and Malaysia.
"When we come into these arrangements within the region, we came as a country that's coming in with the support of the United States. So we then come with a bit more clout than we'd normally come with.
"That's a positive aspect to the alliance [with Washington] that the countries in the region don't usually complain about."
Reaction to Hill's comments Monday was quick to come from Australian "peace activists."
A non-governmental organization called the Australian Anti-Bases Campaign Coalition said that if the plan for "yet another United States military base in Australia" went ahead, it would plan protests.
"Australia already has too many U.S. military facilities on our soil," coalition spokeswoman Dr Hannah Middleton said. "We do not want another one."
The plan would have negative economic, social and environmental effects, and would not Australian security, she charged.
Middleton accused the Howard government of putting Australians in danger "by signing up as a front line collaborator with the U.S. military."
Australia has been a close ally in the war against terror; sent forces to Afghanistan and Iraq; is a partner in President Bush's Proliferation Security Initiative; and plans to participate in the U.S. missile defense program.
A joint Australia-U.S. facility at Pine Gap in the outback serves as a satellite tracking station.
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Perth was a great town, we were treated like Kings!
We couldnt walk down the street in uniform more than 100 yards without someone insisting they give us a free ride where we were going.
yeah your right on the map issue
as far as typing not a native tounge...
and was to tired for spell check
BTTT
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