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| Axis of Evil |
| Australia Cancels SAS’s Leave |
| 2003-01-09 |
| The Defense Department has canceled leave for special forces troops as part of contingency plans for a possible war in Iraq, acting Prime Minister John Anderson said Thursday. Anderson said defense chiefs had canceled vacation for Australia's elite Special Air Service commandos. "It (cancellation of leave) just applies to the SAS at this point in time," Anderson told reporters. In a radio interview earlier Thursday, Anderson said the government still hoped diplomacy could avert conflict and that it had made no decision to send troops. The United States and Britain moved closer to a full war footing against Iraq this week by announcing the dispatch of thousands more troops and weapons to the Gulf region and by voicing misgivings about Iraq's commitment to disarm. Australian Prime Minister John Howard, who is currently on vacation, is a staunch supporter of President Bush's hardline stance against Baghdad and has not ruled out supporting American forces in a military strike, even without a United Nations mandate. Canberra sent 150 SAS commandos to Afghanistan for more than a year but brought them back in December, saying they were no longer needed as the operation there turned toward nation-building. However, Canberra still has warships and air force planes deployed in the region. The Defense Department said Thursday that Australian and U.S. navy fighter jets are to begin bombing exercises in Western Australia state next week. Beaches near the town of Lancelin, 80 miles north of the state capital Perth, will be closed for five days from Jan. 14 while jet fighters from the USS Abraham Lincoln and Australian aircraft drop non-explosive bombs on targets, the department said. The U.S. aircraft carrier had been in Perth for Christmas after a six-month deployment in the Indian Ocean. It left 10 days ago for its homeport in Everett, Wash., but the Pentagon on Dec. 31 reversed its orders and told it to return to Perth. Australian defense officials say the exercises are routine. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #2 u idiot |
| Posted by: Shaiter Wholuper1856 2005-10-06 20:15 |
| #1 I hope they're goint to Indonesia for some payback. |
| Posted by: JAB 2003-01-09 17:21:22 |