The following articles were published in "The Guardian", newspaper
of the Communist Party of Australia in its issue of Wednesday,
October 2nd, 2002. Contact address: 65 Campbell Street, Surry Hills.
Sydney. 2010 Australia. Phone: (612) 9212 6855 Fax: (612) 9281 5795.
CPA Central Committee: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
"The Guardian": <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Webpage: http://www.cpa.org.au>
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Editorial: Crucial test, crucial time
The Australian Government is busy re-writing its strategic military
plans along the lines laid down by the US in its National Security
Strategy document issued by Bush on September 17. It is a chilling
document of militarization and war throughout the world using the phony
"war against terrorism" as the justification.
Defence Minister Robert Hill foreshadowed the Government's thinking in a
speech last week. Its direction is indicated by Hill's remark that "the
Australian Defence Forces (ADF) will continue to find themselves turning
up in unexpected places far from our shores".
Bush's statement says: ". the US will require bases and stations within
and beyond Western Europe and Northeast Asia, as well as temporary
access arrangements for the long-distance deployment of US forces."
To look after the global interests of the transnational corporations
these governments require "transnational security", to use Robert Hill's
phrase.
Readers may be astounded to learn that Australian military forces are
not only in East Timor, Afghanistan and in the Gulf but are now to be
found in Kyrgyzstan and Diego Garcia. (Diego Garcia is an island
strategically based in the Indian Ocean which is used by Britain and the
US as a base for communications, and the refuelling and resupplying of
ships and aircraft. It could be used to control traffic through the Suez
and launching or supporting an attack on Iraq.)
Other countries in which Australian military forces are to be found
include PNG, Bougainville, Indonesia (obvious from issues raised by
Senator Faulkner last week in the Senate about the sinking of the
refugee boat SIEV-X), Malaysia and in several other countries under the
UN "peacekeeping" flag. They are also almost certainly operating in Iraq
at the present time.
In respect to Indonesia, the Australian Government is attempting to
re-establish working relations with the Indonesian Army (the TNI).
Despite the role of the TNI in maintaining in power the Suharto
dictatorship, Robert Hill asserted that the "TNI will remain a
fundamentally important institution in Indonesia. Its handling of
difficult internal security problems across the archipelago will have a
crucial bearing on stability".
The reality is however, that elements in the TNI are not the solution to
but the cause of instability as their forces manoeuvre to re-establish
its dictatorship over Indonesian politics.
Underlying the Government's review of "defence" strategy is the
intention to act as the deputy sheriff of the US as it pursues its
objective of world domination and, for this purpose, to join with the US
in its various military adventures. Referring to the "war on terrorism"
Hill says that "this is a conflict more likely to be fought out well
beyond Australian shores".
The Government's strategy has no use for the United Nations. It does not
even rate a mention in Robert Hill's review.
The recent criticisms of the Government's policies by former political
leaders and some retired Army and Navy commanders express fundamental
disagreement with the whole strategic approach that the Government is
attempting to foist on the people of Australia and on Australia's
military forces.
Responsible military commanders are concerned that Australian forces
under their command should not be put into impossible and dangerous
situations merely on the demand of the US.
The Government's strategy also leads inexorably to the destruction of
the United Nations and its replacement by US unilateralism and
pre-emptive strikes. This option has been clearly spelt out by Bush in
his insistence that if the UN does not act the US will.
This is not a new policy. The US has for a long time ignored those UN
decisions with which it disagrees. The many UN decisions relating to
Israeli aggression are just one example. The refusal of the US to
support the creation of the International Court of Justice is another.
The people of Australia and other countries face a crucial test. EITHER
the rule of law, collective decisions by the UN and the various
covenants of the UN are to be abided by OR its replacement by US
unilateralism backed up by its military power, war, occupation, bribery,
threats, assassinations and the whole armoury of US coercion in the sole
interests of the United States.
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