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Australia will spend 1B this year on losing another Iraq war

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pietillidie 



Joined: 07 Jan 2005


PostPosted: Mon Jul 27, 2015 3:16 pm
Post subject: Australia will spend 1B this year on losing another Iraq warReply with quote

Australia's health and education budget gets cut by 1B for more blind, dumb, aimless interference...yes, wait for it...helping al Qaeda and Hezbollah.

Nope, the world hasn't gone mad; complete idiots in their blind racist outrage who keep throwing billions of dollars of the Australian budget down the toilet have clearly been mad for a very long time already.

Here's how the scheme works. A loon in a whacko far-right Christian cult in Kentucky wants to hasten the defeat of Islam as foretold in the Book of Zechariah, and receives support from a loon in the hills of the Great Dividing Range, who then whips up a Facebook storm demanding the Australian Government takes decisive action to curb the civilisation-destroying influence of Halal peanuts. Then, seizing an opportunity to boost his poll numbers, Tony Abbott puffs out his chest on TV and commits more money to fight a post-lost-war war in Iraq that will also be lost. And then you pay for it.

Or, to put it another way:

Dear Young, Bright Women and Men of Australia

Your university tuition fees will rise again this year because we need 1B of your money to help al Qaeda defeat ISIS so some resource company you won't have heard of can further contribute to global warming and delay the renewable energy era by getting you to subsidise the security of the oil supply that they then on-sell to you. The Australian Government and said unnamed resource company appreciates your understanding, while al Qaeda sends its warm wishes and heartfelt appreciation, and promises to pray that your infidel families receive mercy."

Yours faithfully,
Tony "Tough on Trending Terrorist Groups Only" Abbott, Julie "Privatise it So I Can be Seen with Powerful People" Bishop, Joe "Tighten Everyone Else's Belts" Hockey, and Kevin "Pro Some Lives" Andrews


Anthony Ricketts at UQ via Canberra Times wrote:
Australia will spend 1B this year on a losing war in Iraq

Australia's staunch support for the United States-led war effort in Iraq needs little introduction. We are the second-largest foreign contributor, with 500 troops on the ground and another 400 RAAF personnel stationed in Dubai, armed with six Hornet fighters, a tanker aircraft and an airborne control plane. This contribution will cost the Australian government $1 billion this year.

But the Australian government has successfully escaped serious scrutiny over recent developments in the Middle East. Of these developments, the most critical are the paradoxical policies of the Saudi, Turkish, and Iranian governments which are undermining Australia's war effort.

Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal revealed that al-Qaeda is fighting on the same side as Saudi-backed militias in Yemen. This has grave consequences for the broader Middle East war effort led by the United States and supported by the Australian government.

Yemen has been the linchpin of the US strategy to counter global terrorist organisations. But earlier this year, Houthi rebels overthrew the Yemen government, and Washington lost both an ally and its broader Middle East al-Qaeda strategy. In response, the US backed a Saudi-led air campaign to overthrow the Houthis and reinstate the government, now in exile in Saudi Arabia.

However, the Journal's report showed that the Saudi government depended on al-Qaeda insurgencies to overthrow the Houthi rebels. This puts the US and their Sunni Gulf allies on the same side as the world's most infamous terrorist organisation. This demonstrates the vexed position of US strategy in the Middle East, but it is nonetheless surprising that this development came without comment from Australia's major political parties.

...

Similarly, the Australian government seems unwilling to speak to the critical role that Iran plays in the fight against IS in Iraq. Indeed, all political parties have remained curiously silent on the convenient relationship between Syrian President Assad and IS, and on Iran's support for the Assad regime.

While Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop made a high-profile visit to Tehran earlier this year, there are contradictions in her approach and broader strategic outlook. Iran remains a critical player in the fight against IS in Iraq, and the US and Australian governments have relied on them to win back towns like Tikrit and to lead offensives throughout Anbar province.

However, this approach is at odds with a strategy that only targets IS forces in Iraq, and not Syria. The ties between Assad and Iran are well documented, but by allowing Iran to fight a battle in Iraq that is created in Syria, which they contribute to, it is clear that we lack a coherent and obvious strategy to counter IS.

Australia's decision to support the US-led war against IS came with little scrutiny from the opposition Labor Party or the wider press galleries. But recent events in the Middle East raise questions about the legitimacy of the campaign and the likelihood that this current strategy will be successful.

The Australian government needs to be pressured into answering tough questions about our strategy in the Middle East. After all, the Foreign Minster has called IS "the most significant threat to the global rules-based order to emerge in the past 70 years". If this is the case, then it appears a more thoughtful response is needed, rather than the continuance of a single-minded following of US foreign policy.


http://www.canberratimes.com.au/comment/australia-will-spend-1-billion-this-year-on-a-losing-war-in-iraq-20150726-gijsuy.html

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