lennart
20-03-03, 13:39
Stormy scenes as Howard announces Australia is at war
20.03.2003
By GREG ANSLEY in Canberra
Australia went to war today as a bitterly divided nation alarmed at warnings of a greatly increased threat of terrorist attack.
Prime Minister John Howard confirmed that RAAF FA/18 Hornet jet fighters were escorting air-to-air tanker and early-warning and control aircraft over Iraq, and defence analysts said the SAS was almost certainly already behind enemy lines.
"For operational and security reasons, which I hope the House (of Representatives) and the public will accept and understand, I cannot give specific details," Mr Howard told a hushed Parliament shortly after the first bombs fell on Baghdad.
But he could inform the House and the Australian public that "forces have commenced combat and combat support operations".
In the stormy scenes that followed, Opposition Leader Simon Crean branded the onset of hostilities as a tragic day for Australia.
"This is a reckless, dangerous act and the Prime Minister should hang his head in shame as a result." The Senate, with a majority of Labor, Democrat, Green and Independent senators, voted to bring troops home - a symbolic gesture that will not affect the Government's decision.
In Sydney, thousands of demonstrators choked rush-hour streets for a rally outside the Town Hall and a march on Mr Howard's office, and in Canberra hundreds of protesters gathered outside the heavily-guarded United States Embassy.
Earlier in the day, two 1991 Gulf War veterans, former Navy sailors Magnus Mansie and Brett Jones, handed back their medals at Parliament House in protest at what they said was an illegal war.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3251169&thesection=news&thesubsection=world
20.03.2003
By GREG ANSLEY in Canberra
Australia went to war today as a bitterly divided nation alarmed at warnings of a greatly increased threat of terrorist attack.
Prime Minister John Howard confirmed that RAAF FA/18 Hornet jet fighters were escorting air-to-air tanker and early-warning and control aircraft over Iraq, and defence analysts said the SAS was almost certainly already behind enemy lines.
"For operational and security reasons, which I hope the House (of Representatives) and the public will accept and understand, I cannot give specific details," Mr Howard told a hushed Parliament shortly after the first bombs fell on Baghdad.
But he could inform the House and the Australian public that "forces have commenced combat and combat support operations".
In the stormy scenes that followed, Opposition Leader Simon Crean branded the onset of hostilities as a tragic day for Australia.
"This is a reckless, dangerous act and the Prime Minister should hang his head in shame as a result." The Senate, with a majority of Labor, Democrat, Green and Independent senators, voted to bring troops home - a symbolic gesture that will not affect the Government's decision.
In Sydney, thousands of demonstrators choked rush-hour streets for a rally outside the Town Hall and a march on Mr Howard's office, and in Canberra hundreds of protesters gathered outside the heavily-guarded United States Embassy.
Earlier in the day, two 1991 Gulf War veterans, former Navy sailors Magnus Mansie and Brett Jones, handed back their medals at Parliament House in protest at what they said was an illegal war.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3251169&thesection=news&thesubsection=world