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Politics : War -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: DeplorableIrredeemableRedneck who wrote (19094)	2/4/2003 11:01:03 AM
From: Tadsamillionaire	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 23908

AUSTRALIA is supplying its own secret intelligence on Iraq's weapons stockpile to the United States. The information will be used tomorrow by US Secretary of State Colin Powell in his bid to expose evidence of Baghdad's illegal weapons and al-Qaida terrorist links. Prime Minister John Howard confirmed Australia's intelligence role yesterday as he claimed direct knowledge of Iraq's plans to build a nuclear weapons arsenal. Using his strongest language yet, Mr Howard warned Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was ready to use banned weapons in the Middle East. "The Australian Government knows that Iraq still has chemical and biological weapons, and that Iraq wants to develop nuclear weapons," he said. "We share the view of many that, unless checked, Iraq could even without outside help develop nuclear weapons in about five years." In a wide-ranging speech to Parliament's first full debate on Australia's involvement in war, Mr Howard: VOWED Australia would only join a war if all other options to find a peaceful solution were exhausted. ARGUED the burden of dealing with Saddam's regime should not be left to the US and Britain. INSISTED it was outrageous to accuse the US of seeking war to seize control of Iraq's oil reserves. TOLD a protesting anti-war Catholic bishop in Canberra "nobody has a monopoly on hatred of war". Using his right of reply, Opposition Leader Simon Crean accused Mr Howard of not telling the truth about Australia's advance deployment of 2000 troops to the Persian Gulf. "What we have just heard from the Prime Minister is a justification for war, not a plan for peace," he said. Mr Crean backed his argument by seizing on a leaked memo suggesting it was already too late to withdraw Australian forces from the Gulf, even if the UN refused to sanction military action. The Foreign Affairs Department document, revealed on Channel 9, recorded details of a private conversation last October between Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer and a senior New Zealand diplomat. It quoted Mr Downer as saying Australia would prefer UN backing for military strikes. But Australia was not in a position, if the UN process broke down, to withdraw its ships from the Gulf, the document quoted him as saying. Mr Crean said the report proved Mr Howard was committed to war against Iraq, even if the US decided to go it alone. "This is evidence that the troops are committed, they can't get out of it and the person that will determine whether our troops actually go into war is George Bush, not John Howard," he said. Mr Crean demanded Mr Howard use his overseas visit next week to tell President Bush Australian troops would not go to war without the UN's blessing. But Mr Downer last night said the document had been grotesquely misrepresented. MORE Article @ heraldsun.news.com.au