Pip Hinman, Sydney
On January 9, ALP leader Kim Beazley repeated his call for the Howard government to commit to a timetable for the withdrawal of Australian troops from Iraq. According to Beazley, "The war in Iraq is ... significantly compromising the allied position in the struggle against fundamentalist terrorism". He said the same thing on October 18, but didn't receive the same widespread media coverage.
Beazley was not calling for all 1320 Australian troops to leave Iraq. In an interview with Radio 2UE's Peter Fitzsimmons, he said that when the Australian troops' tour of duty in Al Muthanna in southern Iraq had finished, around April-May, they should be redeployed to Afghanistan, or brought home to "protect Australia's interests" in the region. Labor supports some troops staying to protect Australian diplomats in Baghdad and a continuing naval presence in the Gulf, apparently to protect Iraqi oil terminals and inhibit the movement of "terrorists".
In the January 12 Sydney Morning Herald, Beazley stated that Australia should do what it can "to assist the US to an effective exit strategy. For starters, we should begin our own process, and certainly we should not be looking for a role beyond the Japanese deployment." He said that the British military would be reducing its troops in Basra — which provides security for the Australian troops in Al Muthanna — and this is another reason for the Australian troops to leave.
Beazley has made much of the need to scale down the numbers of foreign troops in Iraq because they "act as a magnet for al-Qaeda recruitment in the Middle East". Yet, he agrees with the Howard government's decision to commit an extra 310 troops to join the 190 Australian special forces already in Afghanistan, or "terrorism central" as he colourfully describes the country The inconsistency in his argument doesn't seem to phase him.
Beazley's decision to again call for a withdrawal timetable opens the way to put greater pressure on the Howard government to end Australia's role in the occupation of Iraq. While Australia's military presence would hardly be missed, the political significance of one of Washington's closest war allies pulling back would be huge.
It's abundantly clear that the US-led coalition is in a quagmire after three years of an unwinnable war. This, and the growing strength of the anti-war movement in the US and Britain, is starting to generate cracks in the pro-war establishment.
In the US, a number of pro-war Democrat and Republican officials are now publicly calling for the troops to leave. US public opinion has turned decisively against the war, with polls showing that 64% disapprove of President George Bush's handling of Iraq, and 60% believe the war was not worth fighting.
British PM Tony Blair, who is also facing growing opposition at home, is bound to be sent the same message about his warmongering role when he visits Australia in March.
Anti-war groups are starting to plan for the global weekend of protest on the third anniversary of the Iraq invasion, March 17-19. In Sydney, the Stop the War Coalition and the Sydney Peace and Justice Coalition are joining forces to organise what they hope will be a huge rally on March 18, beginning at Belmore Park, to demand peace and justice for the Iraqi people and troops home now.
The Melbourne Stop the War Coalition has called a rally for March 17 at 5.30pm outside the State Library. In addition to the Sydney rally demands, the Melbourne group is also calling for an end to anti-Muslim racism and the attacks on civil liberties.
[For information about the Sydney Stop the War Coalition, or to help build the rally, go to <www.stopwarcoalition.org>.]
From Green Left Weekly, January 25, 2006.
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