Posted on 07/13/2004 9:13:07 AM PDT by Lando Lincoln
Pacific Rim Bureau (CNSNews.com) - Australia plans to boost its military contingent in Iraq, increasing the number of troops and vehicles that provide security to diplomats and personnel who are training the new Iraqi army.
Tuesday's announcement comes at a time when governments involved in U.S.-led coalition helping to rebuild Iraq are under pressure to pull out their troops, and on the day the Philippines was pondering a withdrawal to save the life of a Filipino hostage held by a terrorist group in Iraq.
Defense Minister Robert Hill announced that Australia's security detachment in Iraq -- part of a contingent nearing 900 -- would be increased by 30 more personnel to 120. The number of light armored vehicles used by the security staff was being doubled to 12.
"In addition to protecting our diplomats and defense personnel in Baghdad, the security detachment is increasingly required to travel further afield in support of personnel involved in crucial training of the new Iraqi armed forces," he said in a statement.
Enlarging the detachment would lighten the burden on the U.S. military, which has up to now provided security and medical evacuations for the training team.
Hill repeated his government's stance that it would remain in Iraq "until the job is done."
Although the increase is a modest one, the announcement has symbolic significance.
Several governments have withdrawn troops from Iraq since Spain's new Socialist administration did so almost immediately after winning an election last March overshadowed by terrorist bombings that killed 191 people in Madrid.
Australia's decision will also be noted in Manila, where President Gloria Arroyo's government is facing massive pressure to bring home a small troop contingent a month earlier than their scheduled Aug. 20 return. That is the demand of extremists who have threatened to behead a captured Filipino truck driver.
There were conflicting signals Tuesday as to whether Arroyo would back down or not, after a senior Philippines official suggested the pullout process could be speeded up.
Canberra's announcement also sends a message to the Australian people. The country's participation in the Iraq war and the ensuing rehabilitation mission is increasingly dominating the domestic political debate as the country heads towards an election.
The leader of the official opposition Labor Party, Mark Latham, has vowed to withdraw the troops by Christmas if Labor wins the election.
But under sustained pressure from Prime Minister John Howard's government - and with Labor's poll lead slipping - Latham is moving to counter to perception that a government he leads would be weak on defense and bad for bilateral relations with Washington.
In a foreign policy speech in Sydney on Monday night, he repeated his opposition to the war against Iraq, but said a Labor government would back military action in the event another major terror attack was carried out against the U.S.
Latham noted that Labor had supported the 2001 war in Afghanistan, when the U.S. and allies toppled the radical Taliban regime allied to the al-Qaeda terror network after 9/11.
"Should another attack produce an identifiable source, we'd be prepared to support similar action."
He also pledged that a Labor government would provide training and resources worth $54 million over two years to help Iraqi customs officials secure its borders.
Responding to Latham's speech, Howard told Australian radio Tuesday that the Labor leader was still trying to "maintain the fiction" that the Iraq situation has nothing to do with the war against terror.
"Tell that to the million of people who see those appalling, gruesome pictures every night on television, of a blindfolded hostage. And terrorists with guns and knives cocked behind them, reading out statements," he said.
"You tell me that's not terrorism?"
Latham this week also shuffled his front bench, handing the defense portfolio to former party leader Kim Beazley, a politician with strong defense credentials.
In one of his first comments, Beazley said in response to Hill's announcement that Labor did not believe Australia should be getting more deeply engaged in Iraq.
Beazley, a defense minister during the 1980s, also reiterated Labor's policy of a full troop pullout from Iraq by the end of the year.
While meeting with Howard at the White House last month, President Bush said a decision by an Australian leader to withdraw troops from Iraq would be "disastrous" and "embolden the enemy."
The lads down under have still got their stones, that's for sure.
I cannot fathom the math here.
God Bless the Land of Oz!
They're good friends!
"... his government's stance that it would remain in Iraq "until the job is done."
Super! When all the dust settles, this stuff will be remembered.
The 'Spanish solution', it will be proved, does not even serve Spain.
The French bitches about the US again...
Chirac claims the US blackmails small countries not to produce as many generic anti-AIDS drugs as capable.
Awesome. Real men.
Bless you, John Howard.
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