A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Iraq
by Ian McPherson

Wednesday December 19, 2002 was quite a day for the Australian newspaper industry. Firstly, the news.com.au website announced that senior Australian defence commanders have been briefed to prepare themselves for possible war against Iraq in March 2003.

The website reported that Australia's commitment will include a command headquarters, three warships, RAAF F/A-18 Hornet fighters, Orion patrol aircraft and Boeing 707 tankers. Australian officers are already attached to the US Gulf headquarters in Qatar, and SAS troopers have spent months training for operations in Iraq.

Within hours, Australia's Prime Minister John Howard announced that no decision had been made on whether to commit Australian troops to a war in Iraq, and this article was posted. Again within hours, a statement from George Bush appeared on the website, announcing that the U.S. had postponed war with Iraq, even though the U.S. had serious problems with Iraq's weapons declaration.

The U.K. and Australia are both mobilising to be ready for the March deadline in the Middle East. Whether these are indeed the "contigency plans" that John Howard claims they are or not, they involve the movement of real troops, real aircraft and real munitions half way across the world.

Not only is this joint mobilisation monumentally expensive for both the U.S., the U.K. and Australia, but given the standoff in the U.N. between the members of the Security Council, and George Bush's recent "postponement" of the conflict, these soldiers could be cooling their heels in the desert for an interminable amount of time.

If you are a citizen of the U.S., the U.K. or Australia, you can bet your bottom dollar that your taxes are going to be paying for this international grandstanding, and there is little any of us can do about it. Just like me, I'm sure you could think of millions of better ways to spend the money.

See you all in the next issue! 

Ian McPherson
DownUnder Editor