The following article was published in "The Guardian", newspaper of the
Communist Party of Australia in its issue of Wednesday, December 10th, 2003.
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Australian Govt signs up for Star Wars madness
"We are appalled by the Howard Government's decision to sign Australia
up to the United States missile defence plans", said Dr Hannah Middleton
in a media statement on behalf of the Australian Anti-Bases Campaign
Coalition last week.
The US program is estimated to cost a minimum of $30 billion and
Canberra is not giving any estimates of how much Australia will be
expected to contribute. With a defence budget already running at over
$43 million a day and Medicare and education in desperate need of more
funding, this is irresponsible, she said.
The Howard Government is dragging us into a massively expensive,
controversial and still-experimental system that will make Australia
complicit in US plans to turn space into an arena of war.
Furthermore, the US is not building a defensive system. It is planning
to militarise and control space. The US Space Command report, Vision for
2020, speaks of "dominating the space dimension of military operations
to protect US interests and investment".
The US Air Force Space Command Strategic Master Plan says the United
States intends to dominate the world by turning space into the crucial
battlefield of the 21st Century.
"Air Force Space Command has the vision and the people to ensure the
United States achieves space superiority today and in the future", say
the US planners adding that the US will not allow any other power,
including its allies, to get a foothold in space.
Denounced
Most competent authorities have already denounced the Star Wars project.
A report by the General Accounting Office of the US Congress warned that
Bush's drive to erect an anti-missile system is hampered by immature
technology and limited testing, raising the risk of failure.
In February 2002, Australia's Office of National Assessments said that
the US missile defence system could provoke a regional arms race and
"would not be in Australia's diplomatic or security interests".
The announcement by the Australian Government that it is signing up to
Star Wars has been followed by a report in The Australian (December 6-7)
that the Government is to purchase long range missiles from the United
States.
These missiles have a much longer range than any missiles presently
available to the Australian Air Force and can be fitted with either
conventional, nuclear, chemical or biological warheads.
No other country in the Southeast Asian region has such long range
missiles in its arsenal and the Australian Government's action will
inevitably provoke an arms race in the region to possess similar or even
more deadly weapons.
It is clear that the Australian Government and its US masters are
rushing the militarisation of Australia and the Asian region. It
involves US bases in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and on ships and
aircraft in the region. These steps are all preparations for a large war
in the future to contain and overwhelm the People's Republic of China
and impose US domination over the whole of Asia.
Base for tanks and troops
Australia is being turned into a base for the stockpiling of weapons (by
establishing a base at Darwin to house US tanks and troops), by
renovating the naval facilities at Cockburn Sound in WA to take larger
US warships, by using Lancelin (also in WA) as a bombing range and
weapons testing area, by upgrading Pine Gap spy facilities and by
building up the armed forces of Australia to be used whenever and
wherever the US command decides.
Australian military, air and naval forces are being steadily integrated
into the US military structures by the adoption of military equipment
supplied by the US and similar training and command structures. It is
called "interoperability" which means that Australia's military forces
are becoming a de-facto arm of the US military.
The Australian Government is also purchasing three new warships which
the Pentagon says are cover against some "longer range threats against
the west coast of the USA".
China has expressed concern about US plans to surround it with Tactical
Missile Defence (TMD) deployments in Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea and
on ships and planes throughout the region.
The Howard Government signed up for theatre missile defence when it
announced on November 7 that work would start on three new air-warfare
destroyers by 2006. It is expected that they will be equipped with the
US Aegis radar and missile systems. Defence Minister Robert Hill says
this program is not "specifically designed to protect continental
Australia".
Destabilise the region
China has repeatedly warned that US plans for missile defence will be
destabilising and will provoke a new regional arms race. Development of
TMD weapons, the Chinese say, counteracts confidence-building efforts in
the region and is bound to undermine the global strategic balance.
Another important Australian facility under the effective control and
command of the US is the spy base at Pine Gap. It has already been
involved in the supply of information used in the bombing of Yugoslavia
and in the Iraq war.
It has been involved in the Star Wars program for more than a decade.
New radomes built at Pine Gap are for the latest satellite system called
Space-Based Infra-Red System. Media reports indicate that 50 new homes
are being built at Alice Springs for additional American staff coming to
Pine Gap.
Far from achieving security for Australia, the Government's policies and
war preparations will inevitably result in a much wider war in the Asian
region, with possibly tremendous casualties and the destruction of any
respect for Australia in the region.
Australia is already widely regarded as the deputy sheriff of the US and
Australia's militarisation and effective integration into the US
military command structures and its use of US equipment will confirm
that belief.
There is no benefit for Australia in the Howard Government's rush to
militarise Australia. Our security will be damaged, trade and diplomatic
relations with our regional neighbours will be negatively affected and
our sovereignty will be diminished.
It has been said that President Bush is the most dangerous President to
have ever occupied that position in the United States. It can be added
that Prime Minister Howard is the most dangerous and warmongering Prime
Minister that Australia has ever had.
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