US want more Aussie troops

AUSTRALIA is to face a renewed demand from the US for more troops to be sent to Iraq.

Senior officials in Canberra say Prime Minister John Howard is considering ways to turn down the request without damaging the US alliance.

The security situation in Iraq is dire. A London think-tank warned this week that up to 1000 militants dedicated to Osama bin Laden had entered Iraq.

The International Institute for Strategic Studies concluded there were not enough coalition troops to fight them.

LINK

Interesting. Perhaps, on the topic of Iraq, there is something in Howard being re-elected. After all the US right-wing backslapping after the Australian election it is refreshing to see a return to doing things that suit our own interests.

[edit on 24-10-2004 by cargo]

I don't think John Howard will send any more troops to Iraq.

Our Foriegn Affairs minister, Alexander Downer has already stated that we won't be sending any more troops.

I wonder what the punishment for disobedience will be? Maybe a small nuke in the center of Sydney?

Nah if we dont do what Baby Bush wants he'll just dub us a terror state, or place emargo's on us... Or they'll do what they did to the french and just rename anything with our name in it.

If we do need to send troops it'll because it will be assessed as necessary.

I wonder if the request has been made on behalf of the UN, since we turned down a direct unofficial approach.

That would fry a few logic circuits for those only ok with helping the UN out.

Hey if we dont maybe we will get rewarded with a pat on the back from Bin Laden and a temporary repreive from JI.......Kinda like the Spanish.

To me, it's a matter of scale and priority. Our country is not much smaller than the US mainland yet we defend it with a military much less than 1/10th the size of the US military. We also have a terrorist breeding ground in our immediate vicinity, at its closest point the distance between Indonesia and Australia is shorter than the distance between Canberra and Sydney. We have our own terrorist problems, and they are closer to home than any of America's terrorist problems.

I expect them to understand this.

Originally posted by specialasianX
Nah if we dont do what Baby Bush wants he'll just dub us a terror state, or place emargo's on us... Or they'll do what they did to the french and just rename anything with our name in it.

Jeez, you say the most ridiculous things sometimes. Are you really an Ausralian ? or just living here ? If you are an Aussie it serves to give credence to the necessity of abortions sometimes.

Of course we would ask for more Australian troops. If I ever wanted to have someone nearby, it was a Brit or an Aussie.

I hate to sound anti-American (being one), I really hope you guys DON'T send anyone else into that mess. I think Howard showed plenty of balls just standing by us this far, and now that the election is over, he needs to focus on the terror war on your own front.

Anyway, hats off to all of you Down Under. I hold all of you in the highest regard.

The Spider

I doubt that John Howard would send any more troops so soon after the election, I mean, he did say on more than one occasion that we would be sending no more troops to Iraq. Why should we anyway? I was all for getting rid of Saddam & sending troops & standing by our Allies, but the time has come for a re-assessment of the situation over there. Sending more troops just doesn't seem to be the answer, but I can't fathom what IS needed over there at the moment. It saddens me to say this, but I'm begining to think that Iraq will go down as "Bush's Vietnam".

No Iraq will go down as Bushes Iraq.

Vietnam and Iraq conflicts as different as they are the same, as is any war you compare. If you wanted a closer example of the Iraq to another war, look at the stories of Napoleons French -v- the Spanish Geurrillios in the Peninsular Campaign of 1807-1814. Between them and Wellington's Barricades in Portugal, the French were wishing they were not born.

We are foolish to compare wars - they all teach us leasons for the next one, and old horrors to be re-remembered.

Mad Scientist,

Yes I am Australian, but i wasnt born here. I am of Scottish/Malaysian descent and hold three citizenships...

So what Australia, the UK and Malaysia do, in essence is of great interest to me.

Australia because i live here, the UK because i have friends and relatives there, and Malaysia because i have friends and relatives there.

And i know i say the most ridiculous things sometimes, these are things which are jokes... most of them do have underlying truth or feeling to them... and if i was aborted the balance of Right vs Left would be slightly more skewed to the right... and we couldnt have that now coud we?

I think I get your humor there. I see freinds picked up on it by shocked little old ladies when they use gallows or dark humor....when things are so bad you make a sick joke.

Similar I think.

Mad Scientist, don't tell me you need canned laughter tracks to tell you when to laugh too. You and Ezekiel are appearing more and more American as these weeks roll on.

Where you born in Oz?