On January 10, acting defence minister Daryl Williams announced that an Australian officer had assumed tactical command of the maritime Multinational Interception Force (MIF) in the Persian Gulf.
The MIF was set up at the end of the Gulf War in 1991. Composed of warships from the United States, Britain, Australia and France, it enforces UN Security Council-imposed sanctions on Iraq. In its first eight years, the MIF boarded 11,000 ships and turned 600 around, refusing them access to Iraq.
In the last 10 years, 1.5 million Iraqis have died as a direct result of the blockade, and an entire generation will suffer the odten devastating health effects for the rest of their lives. Around 6000 Iraqi children die every month from preventable diseases. Thirty per cent of children under five are malnourished. Half of Iraq's 22 million residents live on or below the poverty line — the average Iraqi earns just US$3 a month.
Of the US$12 billion of oil Iraq has sold under the food-for-oil program, the UN has only handed over $8 billion. Most of the rest has gone to countries that claim Iraq owes them money.
Although relatively insignificant (the tactical command rotation to an Australian officer indicates no change to the overall command structure), the move reinforces Australia's support for the sanctions at a time when they are under heavy criticism from human rights supporters.
The appointment is not just an endorsement of the murderous blockade. It is also an indication that the Australian government will back US President George Bush's fake "war on terror" wherever it leads.
Defence minister Robert Hill indicated this in Washington on January 10. "We haven't set time lines [on Australian military support for the war on terrorism]", Hill said. "If the goal is to best ensure that terrorism can't be exported as it was last year, then, obviously, we'll have to turn our attention to areas beyond Afghanistan."
And at the moment, that appears to be Iraq. On January 16, US Secretary of State Colin Powell told the media, "We will turn our attention to terrorism throughout the world, and nations such as Iraq, which have tried to pursue weapons of mass destruction, should not think that we will not turn our attention to them."
In late November, US president George Bush articulated a vision of the "war on terrorism" that encompassed US intervention in any state of its choosing. Already, it is being used to justify US intervention against guerillas in the Philippines and massively stepped up assistance to the brutal Colombian military.
Hill's comments, and Australia's agreement to take command of the MIF in order to allow US commanders to "concentrate on the war on terrorism", are proof that the Australian government wants to play Tonto, riding faithfully at George W's heels.
This might be in the interests of Australian corporations, but it is not in the interests of the majority of Australians.
In the coming months, the Australian government will attempt to convince us Washington's wars are our wars and that we should unite with them to defend the imperialist system that allows a few crumbs for First World people, taken from the mouths of workers and peasants in the Third World.
In the face of this, the only response is to offer our solidarity to those taking to the streets in Argentina in an attempt to stop their services being slashed to pay debt repayments; express solidarity with the Moro people facing US and Philippines soldiers determined to crush their just struggle for national independence; and solidarity with the starving Iraqi people.
From Green Left Weekly, January 23, 2002.
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