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Reported plan to ‘invade’ Iraq last year rocks Australian politics
Wednesday 25th February 2015 at 07:12 By David Icke
WASHINGTON POST..............
WorldViews
Reported plan to ‘invade’ Iraq last year rocks Australian politics
By Adam Taylor February 23
‘Over the past year, Australia’s Prime Minister Tony Abbott has
made a number of international headlines for his unique brand
of Aussie conservatism. In just a few months, he threatened to
body slam Vladimir Putin, announced plans to knight Queen
Elizabeth’s husband and was repeatedly accused of sexism.
Yet a story published Friday in the Australian newspaper claimed
to show that Abbott had taken his macho behavior into the realm
of geopolitical absurdity – by suggesting a unilateral Australian
“invasion” of Iraq.’
According to the Australian's John Lyons, Abbott became interested
in sending thousands of Australian troops to Iraq to fight the Islamic
State in November as the extremist group's military success in Iraq
and Syria became apparent. He raised the issue with his staff,
including controversial Chief of Staff Peta Credlin, Lyons reports,
and none saw any issue with it.
It was only when the military became involved that the proposal –
dubbed an "invasion" in the Australian media – fell apart. “The
military officials were stunned, telling Mr Abbott that sending 3,500
Australian soldiers without any US or NATO cover would be
disastrous for the Australians," Lyons wrote.
Deep fears about domestic terrorism has made the Islamic State
an issue of pressing concern in Australia, and the country does have
a few hundreds troops in Iraq acting as advisers. The country's
military is relatively small, however – less than 60,000 in active
manpower, a fraction of the United States' 1.5 million – and the
country has never declared war unilaterally before. Despite the
country's involvement in the U.S.-led invasions of Afghanistan
and Iraq a little over a decade ago, for many Australians the idea
of a military action without the backing of other countries seems insane.
Over the weekend, Abbott sternly denied the report, saying that
from the beginning there have never been any plans to put
Australian combat troops into Iraq. "It is fanciful, absolutely fanciful,"
Abbott told reporters, arguing that Lyons had never contacted his
office about the story. A number of government ministers also
suggested that the report was absurd.
"Australia does not act unilaterally in the Middle East," the Australian
prime minister said. "We work with our partners and allies to meet
threats to our vital national interests and to the vital national
interests of our friends and partners. That's what we do."
Defense officials have come out to discredit the report, too. "The
Chief of the Defense Force [Marshal Mark Binskin] does not recall,
or have any record of any task from the Prime Minister to examine
the possibility of a large scale deployment to Iraq of the nature
described in today's media reports," a defense spokesman told Fairfax Media.
The Australian has said it is standing by its initial story, and in a
follow-up over the weekend, it pointed out that Abbott had repeatedly
said there was no "formal" proposal to invade Iraq – a sign, the newspaper
seemed to suggest, that a more informal talk about an invasion of Iraq
had occurred. The Australian's editor, Clive Mathieson, also said that the
Australian never implied that Marshal Binskin was involved in talks about
the "invasion" and that his reporters had contacted Abbott's office twice.
It's a big problem for the Australian prime minister. The Sydney Morning
Herald points out that Abbott's government has been hit by a series of
leaks recently, indications of a conflict behind the scenes in his governing
Liberal Party. Whether Abbott brought up an Iraqi invasion formally,
informally or simply not at all, the Australian's story touched a nerve.
It highlights not only what is seen as a worryingly brash side to Abbott's
decision-making process, but also broader concerns about the strength
of the Australian military in the face of global extremism and a rising China.
Read more: Reported plan to ‘invade’ Iraq last year rocks Australian politics
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...lian-politics/
Re: Are there no worthy Aussies ?? Prince Philip recommended for knighthood by Australia
we can look forward to telling the Queen & Crown to ((Fk-OFF))...
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