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Vol. 71/No. 12      March 26, 2007

 
More Australian troops head to Iraq
 
BY LINDA HARRIS  
SYDNEY, Australia—Three days before the February 22 arrival here of U.S. vice president Richard Cheney, Prime Minister John Howard announced that the Australian government would send 70 additional army trainers to Iraq and extend the deployment of the 520 Australian troops under British command in the southern part of the country. In response to London's decision to withdraw some of its troops from Iraq, Howard ruled out any withdrawal of Australian forces, which now total 1,450 in and around Iraq.

Howard “remains firmly in step with Bush,” Patrick Walters, The Australian's security editor, noted in a February 22 column. He "sees Australia’s Iraq commitment as a test of the alliance with Washington.”

Canberra is also planning to almost double its military commitment to Afghanistan, with an extra 450 troops expected to join the more than 500 personnel already there. The plan would commit up to 250 commandos and elite SAS Special Forces for combat operations.

Labor opposition leader Kevin Rudd supported the Australian reinforcements to Afghanistan, while opposing further deployment of troops in Iraq. The social democratic party insists the war in Afghanistan is a greater priority for Australian imperialism than Iraq. Meanwhile, the Australian rulers are driving to expand defense spending and to transform the military and its ability to deploy alongside the United States or other imperialist allies.

Canberra is currently negotiating a military agreement with Manila, which will allow Australian troops to carry out “training exercises” with the Filipino military. U.S. soldiers already conduct such training under a similar agreement.

The federal government has also just sent 100 more troops to East Timor, including an SAS contingent, to reinforce 800 Australian and 120 New Zealand troops already there.

Under pressure to sustain overseas deployments in Iraq, Afghanistan, East Timor, and the South Pacific, Howard unveiled a $1 billion package December 15 to increase recruitment to the army. The federal government wants to boost the 30,000-strong army by 20 percent over the next 10 years, to the biggest force since the Vietnam War. Canberra has agreed as well to the establishment of a new U.S. military communications base near Geraldton in Western Australia, reported The Australian February 15. The base will serve as a ground station for communications with U.S. military forces around the world. Along with two other existing stations, these joint facilities are a significant part of the Australia-U.S. alliance.

The Australian military is “a force that has been tailored for Australia’s interests and primarily for the Asia-Pacific Region,” said Alan Dupont, director of the Center for International Security Studies at the University of Sydney, in the February 5 issue of Defense News, a Pentagon publication. “But it also has the capacity to be interoperable … with the United States.”

Defense News also quoted Richard Bitzinger of Singapore’s Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies saying, “The Pentagon’s own transformation is shaping the ADF [Australia Defence Forces] and its Asia-Pacific allies.” Canberra expects joint operations with U.S. forces to form a growing part of future Australian military missions.

Cheney’s visit to Australia was part of deepening this cooperation and also furthering ties between the rulers here and in Japan. Before coming to Australia, Cheney met with Japanese government officials. Canberra and Tokyo are negotiating a military agreement that will allow Japanese troops to train in Australia. This will be Tokyo's first bilateral security agreement, other than with Washington.
 
 
Related articles:
Iraq war escalation to last into next year
Washington ups pressure on Iran, Syria
U.S. out of Iraq, Afghanistan now!  
 
 
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