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CounterPunch
January
11, 2003
Australia Will
Be There!
For England, Home and Beauty
By KEVIN SUMMERS
Have no cause for fear!
Should old acquaintance be forgot?
No! No! No! No!
Australia will be there!
Australia will be there!
These are the lyrics to a song penned upon the
outbreak of the Great War in 1914. It was a clarion call to Australian
youth to serve--and perish--on the beaches of Gallipoli, in the
trenches of France and on the gibber plains of Palestine. In
today's jargon, it was an instant hit. The refrain was taken
up by the thousands of Australians who enlisted to defend the
British Empire in its hour of need.
Yet by 1914 Australia had already displayed
its propensity for embracing foreign conflicts. The colonies
that were to federate in 1901 were eager to commit troops in
defence of the Empire. In 1863, volunteers from New South Wales
and Victoria had fought the Maoris in New Zealand. Two decades
later and those feisty New South Welshmen were in the Sudan to
avenge the demise of General Gordon at Khartoum.
When the uppity Boers of South Africa
expressed an aversion to British rule in 1899, the colonies sent
their own contingents of mounted troopers--this writer's Victorian
grandfather among them. Following federation, the eight battalions
of the Australian Commonwealth Horse made up the nation's first
foreign foray. It may not surprise the reader to know that Australians
also saw action quelling the Boxer rebellion in China during
these years.
When Japan's southerly advance following
Pearl Harbor brutally displayed the illusion of British power
in South East Asia, Australia turned to the United States for
protection. When Prime Minister John Curtin pledged "all
the blood of my countrymen" in March, 1942, he was intimating
to Franklin Roosevelt that here was a reliable and staunch ally.
The President, as recent sources have revealed, was less than
enthused, believing that Australia's long-term interests were
best served by Britain.
Australians have maintained a strong
belief that the US, under General Douglas MacArthur, selflessly
committed troops and weaponry to save them from a Japanese invasion,
rather than the continent being the only valid staging post for
a Pacific counter attack following MacArthur's ignominious withdrawal
from the Philippines. That belief has led to a foreign policy
myopia that survives to this day.
In 1962 Prime Minister Menzies sent a
small detachment of military "advisers" to Vietnam.
Three years later he was announcing the deployment of a battalion
and Australian forces--including naval and air force units--were
employed in that war theatre till 1972. Nearly 500 men died and
2400 were wounded. But Australia had shown itself to be a loyal
ally. Indeed, Menzies' successor, Harold Holt, had infamously
coined the phrase "all the way with LBJ" in 1966, a
year before he walked into the sea, never to be seen again.
When President Bush decided to punish
his former client, Saddam Hussein, for stepping out of line over
that beacon of democracy, Kuwait, Australia's Labor Prime Minister
Bob Hawke was quick to add his nation's name to the list of military
contributors. When Bush the younger called for assistance in
Afghanistan, Prime Minister Howard . well, you can guess.
So now, with a Bush war against Iraq
looking a fait accompli, Howard is making all the usual noises.
His sluggish Foreign Minister Downer recently opined that it
was "appeasement" not to militarily engage Saddam.
Only two weeks ago, Howard talked of a "pre-emptive strike"
against terrorists in any nation which may harbour them, earning
the wrath of his northern neighbours.
Howard is politically canny. He chooses
his words carefully and is not one to run off at the mouth. When
he spoke of pre-emptive strikes he deliberately invoked the language
of Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld--Australia was at one with America.
He was confident that his devotion would resonate within the
community. After all, Howard has deftly played the fear card
over the last eighteen months, seeking to paint (mainly) Islamic
refugees as threats to the Oz way of life: "border protection"
has been the popular catchcry.
And why not? The only energetic political
opposition to Howard's support for war upon Iraq has come from
the Greens leader, Senator Bob Brown. The official opposition,
the Labor Party under a timid Simon Crean, has opted to maintain
a low profile, its gaze firmly on the public opinion polls as
it sniffs the political wind.
And the polls show an Australian public
which, while expressing fear and confusion over terrorist threats,
particularly in the wake of the Bali bombing outrage, nonetheless
is needing some convincing of the need to attack Iraq. Certainly,
younger Australians strongly repudiate joining a US led strike,
favouring a UN led action.
US Ambassador Schieffer, a Texas oil
lawyer and former business partner of the President, has been
assiduously beating the war drum, suggesting that terrorists
could be contemplating the detonation of a nuclear device in
Sydney harbour. Of course, he added that he didn't wish to be
seen as scaremongering.
Doubtless, Prime Minister Howard has
a little work to do to before Australia declares its committment
to an Iraq adventure. In the next few weeks there will be numerous
assertions from him and his Ministers as to the need to establish
a fair and peaceful world order. Moreover, it will be stressed
that the only path to this outcome is war against Iraq.
As the Bush administration ups the militaristic
rhetoric, the Australian Government will follow. In October,
2001, upon the 50th anniversary of the signing of the ANZUS treaty--a
formalisation of Australia's loyalty to the US--State Department
spokesman Richard Boucher declared that America "has no
more steadfast ally that Australia."
While the 1914 song that expressed Australia's
obsequiousness has long faded into distant memory, its failure
to assert itself as a truly independent nation has not. Here's
a sure bet: when Bush moves against Iraq. Australia will be there.
Kevin Summers
is a Melbourne (Australia) based writer, actor and playwright.
He contributes to the Melbourne Age and Canberra Times. He can
be reached at:
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