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Aussie Troops To 'Fight'

Australia is sending 1550 troops and an array of military hardware to Afghanistan, where they are expected to be fighting "very soon".

Australian Prime Minister John Howard said he had responded to phone call from George W Bush by offering the soldiers - including elite Special Air Service troops - as well as four fighter aircraft, three frigates and two refuelling aircraft.

Ground war

"Our forces will be overseas fighting in our name within a very short period of time," Mr Howard said, in the clearest sign yet that a ground war may not be far away.

Mr Howard announced the increased Australian military commitment in Melbourne on Wednesday in the countdown to a November 10 federal election.

He said US President George W. Bush telephoned him on Tuesday night to ask Australia to "activate" that pledge.

'Deaths likely'

Australia's forces would be fully deployed by the middle of November. "It will not be an easy operation," he said. "The possibility of death, the possibility of casualties, is quite high."

Under its ANZUS military pact with Washington, Australia had already said it would send 150 SAS troops and two refuelling aircraft to join the US and British strikes on Afghanistan, while a frigate already in the Gulf would remain there.

Under the new military commitment, Australia will send two more frigates, the four FA-18As, an amphibious command ship, the SAS, two PC3 long range maritime surveillance aircraft and two Boeing 707 refuelling aircraft.

-- Anonymous, October 17, 2001

Answers

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/290/world/Australian_support_for_Washi ng:.shtml

Australian support for Washington unwavering since U.S. saved nation in World War II

By Peter O'Connor, Associated Press, 10/17/2001 13:31

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) From the moment a hijacked passenger jet slammed into the Pentagon near where he was staying on Sept. 11, Australian Prime Minister John Howard has been unwavering in his support for U.S. military reprisals.

Within days, he had pledged 150 elite commandos to the U.S.-led war on terrorism, along with two refueling planes, two maritime reconnaissance aircraft and a guided missile frigate.

On Wednesday, following a call from President Bush, Howard increased Australia's contribution to 1,550 troops and said they would begin leaving for the Gulf within a week to two weeks.

Bush ''indicated the United States would like to activate the commitment that Australia had made to join the coalition force; I indicated that Australia would respond,'' Howard said.

The forces nearly 600 more than the initial commitment include a naval task group comprising one helicopter-carrying amphibious command ship and a frigate escort, four FA-18A fighter jets, and one frigate that also can accommodate helicopters.

Public backing for Howard's unflinching support also has been overwhelming, with relatively few people showing up for scattered peace rallies to protest the planned deployment.

''We have to send troops to keep the peace, there has to be a united group of countries to keep the peace,'' said bus driver Luke Geradts.

Howard's popularity has soared on the back of his support just weeks from national elections at which he is seeking a third term for his conservative government.

Australia's commitment to support U.S. military campaigns dates to World War II and has seen Australian troops fight alongside U.S. forces in Korea, Vietnam and the Gulf War.

''The Americans came to our aid during the dark days of World War II and saved us from the Japanese thrust and that should never be forgotten,'' Howard said after the Sept. 11 attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center. He pledged to support the United States ''to the limit of our capability.''

''This country would have gone under in World War II if it hadn't been for the Americans and no Australian of any generation should ever forget that,'' Howard said.

World War II forced Australia to turn away from its historic ties with far-off Britain and look to the United States for help defending its vast unprotected coastline from the Japanese. Although Japanese bombers inflicted heavy damage on the northern port of Darwin, there was no invasion, thanks mainly to the heavy U.S. forces in the Pacific region.

After the war, Australia and the United States, along with New Zealand, signed a military pact, which turns 50 this year. Howard was in Washington to mark the occasion when the Sept. 11 attacks rocked the world.

At least three Australians died in the suicide hijackings, which Howard said amounted to an attack on Australia because of the values the two nations share.

While the vast majority of Australians support military action to eradicate terrorist threats, there remains some community concern.

''We shouldn't do that until we've explored every other aspect of not going to war, it's going to involve such a lot of people, kill a lot of people,'' said Heather Bigg, who has a granddaughter serving on an Australian frigate already in the Gulf.

''I think I can see it coming to a holy war, that's what we're heading toward and it frightens the daylights out of me,'' Bigg said.

-- Anonymous, October 17, 2001