Greens repeat call for troops to be brought home

Pip Hinman

Debate over the Defence Amendment Bill — introduced into the Senate in 2004 by the Australian Democrats — continued on February 10, with the Greens again calling for Australian troops to be brought home from Iraq.

The current debate has been adjourned and it is unlikely to go much further, as neither Labor nor the Coalition support the private member's bill. Moved by Andrew Bartlett, it calls for any overseas deployment to require the approval of both houses of parliament. According to Bartlett, "the executive should not be able to involve Australian troops in an overseas conflict if they have not been able to successfully make their case at least to the parliament". During the debate, the Democrats made clear their disagreement with the Greens' "troops out" call, arguing that since Australian troops are in Iraq, they should stay there — at least for the foreseeable future.

Senator Kerry Nettle agreed that taking a country to war "is the most serious decision that any government can make" and that "the decision to deploy Australian troops overseas, should go through the parliament and should be in the hands of the people". But, she added, the Greens would continue to call for Australian troops to be withdrawn from the occupation.

"If this bill had been in place before 20 March, 2003, we would never have joined the folly that is the ongoing war in Iraq", Nettle said.

Australia has already spent almost $1 billion on the war, and "the White House has been forced to hide an additional $80 billion earmarked for Iraq and Afghanistan in order to claim that it is cutting the US deficit".

"The chants of 'no blood for oil' that we heard from millions of people around the world who protested about the war almost two years ago pinpointed the heart of the problem", Nettle argued. "The addiction of the United States and Australia to oil is driving this war."

Referring to the recent Iraqi elections as a "testament to the bravery and tenacity of many Iraqis who not only voted but had previously forced the United States to allow the elections", Nettle nevertheless described the elections as less than democratic. Whatever the make-up of the new Iraqi government, it is clear that the US is planning a long-term deployment with 14 new military bases under construction, she said.

According to Nettle, while foreign troops remain, the insurgency will grow. "Australia's best contribution to peace would be to join Hungary and Ukraine, who recently withdrew their troops" allowing the Iraqis to determine their own futures, she said.

From Green Left Weekly, February 16, 2005.

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From GLW issue 615