Wednesday, January 22, 2003

Unlike France and Germany, the Australians are committed to ending Saddam's regime. They have deployed quite a force to the Gulf in advance of possible action and have repeatedly said they would be involved, with or without UN approval, in the removal of Saddam. And, in an apparent jab at the French, they have codenamed the action: "Operation Bastille".

As the French stormed the Bastille prison on July 14, 1789 marking the birth of the republic and freeing the French from royal tyranny - military planners believe Australia will play its part in storming Baghdad and getting rid of the tyrant Saddam Hussein.

Senator Hill said the difference between this deployment and the one in Afghanistan was that Australia's special forces would be supported by dedicated Australian logistics units. The change was recommended by the chief of the defence forces, Major-General Peter Cosgrove, after analysis of the Afghanistan and Timor campaigns.

Asked whether the mere presence of Australian forces in the Middle East suggested Australia would take part in the campaign, Senator Hill said: "I understand that and that is a reasonable inference ... but no decision has been made (to go to war)".

A look at what they are sending.

Senator Hill said yesterday the amphibious transport ship Kanimbla would be farewelled from Sydney on Thursday and would take provisions, a Sea King helicopter, early protection forces and weapons disarmament personnel. In addition, he said the Government had decided to pre-deploy elements of its special forces, which would be farewelled from Perth tomorrow.

"Thirdly, we are pre-deploying an air force reconnaissance group basically to provide planning for the possible deployment of the squadron of F/A-18 fighters.

The biggest difference between this deployment and the one to Afghanistan was that Australian troops would be relying on Australian back-up units, he said. "We've decided that our special forces, were they to go into action, should be supported by Australian Defence Force elements," he said. "Our intention is that they would be supported by an element from the Australian Commando Regiment, which is based in Sydney, (and) by an element of our recently established Incident Response Regiment (based at Holsworthy) that deals with chemical, biological and radiological threats." These forces would also be supported by three Chinook helicopters and also C-130 transport aircraft, he said.

The Australian commitment included 150 SAS troops, two P-3C Orions, two navy frigates to enforce the UN naval blockade of the Persian Gulf, which were already deployed, and up to 14 F/A-18 Hornets.

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