The local media is awash with stories of Australian troops deployed to the Persian Gulf.
The Prime Minister, John Howard, when asked if he was prepared to recall the troops should the UN fail to endorse military action, or in any other circumstances, refused to answer.
But according to the senior defence figure, who wished to be anonymous, there would be no turning back for the troops if the push for a peaceful solution failed.
It could be inferred from the decision to deploy them that it would be “very unlikely” Australia would not be involved militarily.
I think John Howard realises that the general public is against such a move, at least without UN approval. With the troops “forward deployed” in the Gulf, it almost guarentees thay’ll be involved in any conflict there, without any form of parliamentry debate on the subject.
If we’re going to be involved, then by all means, send the troops over early and let them acclimatise. Give them the best chance they can have to do the best job they can, and come home alive. But I don’t beleive we should be involved, nor should we commit to being involved until a war is demonstrated to be necessary, and auhorised by the UN.
The other argument for “forward deployment” is for deterence. But lets face it, if Saddam isn’t detered enough by 150,000 (by the end of Feb) US and British troops, then a thousand or so Aussies won’t make any difference one way or another.
I think Simon Crean (leader of the oposition) said it best… “I don’t support the deployment of our troops in these circumstances. I do support our troops and always will, and that distinction is fundamentally important.”.
The reason I am here today is to support you, and to signal to the families that while there may be debates raging in this country as to whether or not it’s appropriate for you to be there, that argument should be directed to the government of the day, not to our great men and women who are prepared to give of themselves to serve the country.
A Canberra resident has posted some pictures taken during the bushfires there last saturday. The pictures o a dark sky at 3:45pm are spooky.
The Independent in the UK has an article on the
HMS Ark Royal setting sail for the gulf.
But the joking and smiling stopped when he [Captain Alan Massey] was asked if Ark Royal was preparing for war. The answer was careful and precise, and came to mind yesterday as it left harbour. “We are a warship.”
Its beginning to look as if war is inevitable. Personally, I’m not sure why its come to this. Iraq hasn’t done anything new or differnet in the last 12 months, and there’s been no proof that they were involved in the Sept. 11th attacks, so why now?
“I’m talking about mandatory service.” Rep. Charles Rangel has a different proposal for avoiding war with Iraq.
Jeremy Zawodny comments on airport security. I travel a bit on domestic flights in .au and have noticed increased security, but it doesn’t seem nearly as invasive as what’s happening in the US.
I’ve always carried a screwdriver set in my laptop bag (I occasionally need to tear apart a PC while I’m away), which has to go into my checked in baggage now. I used to carry a pocket knife for the same reason, but don’t bother these days. I also have to remove my laptop from its bag before it goes through the machine which is annoying.
The metal detectors seem to be a hell of a lot more sensitive these days too. There was a time that I used to be able to walk through the arch with my wallet and keys still in my pocket, and they wouldn’t go off… These days my belt buckle is enogh to do it, which means I end up being forced to walk through the arch a couple of thimes then the security guy has to wave his magic wand over me.
None of this really bothers me. But now my laptop and bag comes through the conveyer, where anyone can grab them and run off with them, before I’m through security. I want to be through the security checks before the laptop comes out of the machine so I can grab it before someone else does. I used to be able to do this, but I can’t any more.
Oil is the real reason for war with Iraq? John Robb makes a convincing argument that this might be the case.
CNN.com has a story on the proposals for rebuilding the WTC site. Can’t say I’m real keen on any of them to be honest. The Studio Libeskind and Foster and Partners are the two I like most.
The Meier Eisenman Gwathmey Holl proposal (above) just looks wrong to me.
