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Canberra decides this week on Iraq
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- The Australian government will meet early this week to decide whether to commit its forces to a U.S.-led war with Iraq. Australian Prime Minister John Howard, one of U.S. President George W. Bush's staunchest allies, told Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio the timing of the meeting would depend on events at the United Nations headquarters in New York over the next 24 hours. A Cabinet meeting "will be sometime early this week," he said. "I can't be absolutely certain of it. It depends on events as they unfold but the sequence has always been the situation crystallizing one way or the other in New York." In a television interview earlier Monday, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said he expected President Bush to give the green light for war with Iraq this week even without a new U.N. resolution. Australia has 2,000 military personnel in the Middle East, as well as a squadron of fighter aircraft and naval vessels, preparing for war with Iraq. But those forces have not yet formally been given the go-ahead to join any strikes on Iraq. Downer said he had little hope the U.N. Security Council would agree on a new resolution in the next 24 hours. "The question is whether the gap can be narrowed in 24 hours, or whether it can't be," he said. "I think that is highly unlikely. That would constitute a very big back down by France who've said they'll veto any new security council resolution." Told to leaveDowner said that legally, a new security council resolution was not required for the military disarmament of Saddam Hussein. "But, if you could get a new security council resolution up, it would broaden international support," he said. There is widespread opposition in Australia to any military move to disarm Iraq without a U.N. resolution explicitly mandating the use of force. In a later radio interview, Downer again warned any Australians still in Iraq to leave within the next couple of days. "Australians should leave Iraq in any case," he said. "I don't think Australians should be in Iraq any longer and I would like to feel that, you know, in the next couple of days, Australians would leave the country." It is not known exactly how many Australians remain in Iraq. There are thought to be a small number of aid workers and a handful of peace protesters acting as "human shields." Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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