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AUSTRALIA’S CABINET HAS approved the deployment of special forces and military air strikes to tackle the Islamic State organisation in Iraq, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said.
“Today, cabinet has authorised Australian air strikes in Iraq at the request of the Iraqi government and in support of the Iraqi government,” Abbott said.
“Also, subject to final legal documentation, cabinet has authorised the deployment of Australian special forces into Iraq to advise and assist Iraqi forces.”
About 200 troops, including special forces soldiers, arrived in mid-September in the United Arab Emirates, a staging post for military operations into the region, as part of a 600-strong deployment as Australia geared up to join the US-led campaign.
They are backed by Australian air force aircraft, including F/A-18F Super Hornet jets, an E-7A Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft, and a KC-30A multi-role tanker and transport aircraft.
The special forces were “not envisaged” to become directly involved in combat missions but would be “helping Iraqi forces with the planning and coordination of operations”, Abbott stressed.
He added that they would operate on a “much smaller scale” than their allied counterparts.
“The Americans certainly have quite a substantial special forces component on the ground already,” Abbott said.
“My understanding is that there are UK and Canadian special forces already inside Iraq, so we’ll be operating on a much smaller scale but in an entirely comparable way to the United States special forces.”
Some 1,600 US soldiers have been deployed to Iraq to support Iraqi forces with equipment, training and information, while Canada said last month it had sent dozens of special forces soldiers to the country to advise local personnel.
Up to eight Australian Super Hornets were authorised to take part in the strikes, with six of the aircraft currently in the UAE, Australian Defence Force chief Mark Binskin said.
The announcement came days after Australian military jets took part in support missions over Iraq with the US-led international coalition.
To ‘disrupt and degrade’ IS
“It’s very much in Australia’s national interest that we do this useful work to disrupt and degrade ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) at home and abroad,” the prime minister added.
“It could take quite some time, but we will know that we are succeeding when ISIL are in retreat, not in advance. We will know that we are succeeding when the Iraqi government is restoring a modicum of control over its own cities and towns.”
Abbott would not comment on whether his nation would consider taking part in US strikes against jihadists in Syria, saying he wanted to focus on “what’s been done today rather than speculate on what might be done in months or years to come”.
Canberra had already joined the US in an international effort to transport weapons to Kurdish forces fighting IS extremists in northern Iraq and conducted humanitarian air drops to besieged Iraqi towns.
Abbott refused to put a timeframe on Australia’s involvement in Iraq.
“I want to stress that only Iraq can defeat ISIL, but Iraq shouldn’t be alone and as far as Australia and our allies are concerned, Iraq won’t be alone,” he said.
“I have to warn that this deployment to Iraq could be quite lengthy, certainly months rather than weeks. I want to reassure the Australian people that it will be as long as it needs to be, but as short as it possibly can be.”
- © AFP 2014.
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Not very “Labour” to vote against workers rights I would have thought.
Exactly. They should be made rename the party. Pity there aren’t more TD’s like McNamara!
Fair play to him for sticking to his principles and trying to bring us in line with international law and best practice. Shame the government didn’t support him.
But he can’t do that and the government can’t have a vote on that because I think it was the E.C.J. has ruled that it is illegal not to let the Gardaí the right to strike. So the E.U. has told this government they are breaking the E.U. law not to allow them to strike.
This is done for show for this useless government, the squeak of the worm not the turn as the E.U. will never allow that… lol.
If the guards did go on strike, how could we tell ?
The sale of doughnuts would collapse , that would be a likely indicator .
There wont be 15 standing over your water meter when you get home.
I’m nearly sure this is the first time a government has voted against a ruling that came from the European social charter. It just goes to show the lack of respect they have for army and gardai . At the very least they could begin to allow such groups to negotiate on pay and conditions themselves. Leave the strike issue for another time when more thought is put into it. It’s now the situation where gardai and army personnel are 2nd class citizens in all but name and these are the very people we need when we are at our most vulnerable. Incredible really.
I think that SF/IRA would be in favour of all of the defence forces going on strike.
There is no SF/IRA and never was
#labour cant afford to lose any more politicians as they face wipeout in next election. Seems strange even being allowed to bring in a bill that your own party is going to vote against. anyway glad it failed for once. have no respect for the cops in this country, and now they are looking for tasers. God help us all.
Fair Play to him but I can’t help thinking that a lot of people will be unruly in FG and Labour coming up to election time to give appearance of going against status quo etc.
They shouldn’t be allowed to strike as should transport operators especially CIE members
Why not strike how the nurses do then?
The E.U. has said it is illegal for this government to prevent them from striking and the government knows this, the rest is just spin for the news media but why is the government doing this, electioneering or what?
Trying to get a fine off the European Union I’d say.. They are only delaying the inevitable
Trying to get fines off the European Union
Ireland are not the only nation
And Oranges are not the only fruit.
The Gardai and the armed forces are not regular citizens. They should by all means be paid what is fair given their responsibilities but they should never be allowed to undermine the authority of the state. The armed forces in particular are an army that are servants of the sovereign state and should be heavily penalised for even suggesting a strike.
If you want special rules about their employment shouldn’t there be special rules about their treatment.. I.e mandatory sentence for attack on garda/emergency services?
Lots of deli food would be left over cos no lads would be up to the garages at closing looking for the free scraps!
Dave the Army cannot go on strike, that’s called a mutiny and can lead to imprisonment and loss of employment. They cover whoever else goes on strike ie fire service, prison service, bin men etc. It’s a seven day week too and for a 24hr duty they get €48 before tax.
48 euro before tax is criminal. Are you aware of any other armed forces around the world that can take industrial action Sean?
What a joke, he brings in a bill and his own party don’t support it. If memory serves me correctly didn’t Peter Mathews bring forward a bill and then vote against it because the party told him to do so ? That is not democracy !!
Niamh I’m almost sure this is all armies but here the army is not allowed into meeting about pay or conditions and are not represented unlike the Guards, nurses, firemen & prison officers. They all have unions or a representative body to fight their corner. The EU has said it is against EU law to not allow the military into pay meetings, yet this government just went against this finding.
Sean gardai are not allowed in to those meetings either. They have to employ a trade union to go in and do there bidding for them. Like the lads in the army they are treated like 2nd class citizens. Disgraceful
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