Disquiet grows as 'Rambo' ramps up

By GREG ANSLEY

CANBERRA - The Australian Government yesterday stood firm in its hard-line support for action against Iraq despite growing concern that its "Rambo" stance is tougher than even the United States'.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer yesterday claimed intelligence suggested Saddam Hussein had added an embryonic nuclear capability to the country's expanding chemical and biological arsenal.

And Defence Minister Robert Hill said Australia had the capability to take part in any US-led attack on Iraq, should Washington request a military contribution similar to the forces deployed during the Gulf War and the campaign in Afghanistan.

The Government also attacked as blackmail Iraqi threats to axe A$820 million ($954 million) in wheat sales following the cancellation of a 500,000-tonne order and the suspension of a similar shipment on the grounds of suspected contamination.

Iraq's charge d'affaires in Canberra, Saad Al Samarai, said a complete ban on trade could be imposed because of Canberra's "iron language".

The Australian Wheat Board told The Australian that Iraqi state television footage of Australian troops in combat training, allegedly for war in the Gulf, triggered Baghdad's action.

Criticism of Canberra's stance is growing much louder, joined even by former Labor Prime Minister Bob Hawke, a friend of George Bush snr, and who was among the first to commit forces to the 1991 Gulf War.

Opposing what he described as Prime Minister John Howard's open-ended support for US strikes against Baghdad, Hawke said every diplomatic effort should be spent on getting United Nations inspectors back into Iraq and to establishing any evidence of connections with al Qaeda.

"Until you've done both those things there is no justification for spilling one drop of Australian blood or committing, at this stage, one Australian soldier to that cause."

Opposition leader Simon Crean said Australia should support international efforts to rid the world of weapons of mass destruction, but that Downer's language had cost Australia through the loss of trade.

"Everyone knows Alexander [Downer] is being Rambo," he said.

Grains Council of Australia president Keith Perrett said Canberra's language was hurting farmers.

"We would have to question why the Government seems to be leading the world in its criticism of Iraq."

But Hill said the international community could not afford to ignore the lessons of September 11 by allowing Saddam to build his arsenal of weapons of mass destruction.

"What are [critics] saying - that we should turn a blind eye in order to meet Iraq's requirements for the wheat trade?" Hill said. "We can't be blackmailed in that way."

Howard denied Australia was leading the US and that it had made any commitment to the US on Iraq.

He said he had only outlined to Australians what he considered the options in Iraq to be, and that any request for military support would be debated by Parliament.

"There's nothing Rambo about that."

In other developments yesterday:

* Almost two thirds of British voters believe that an attack on Saddam is not justified at the moment, an opinion poll shows.

And 90 per cent of those polled for the Daily Telegraph fear that military action against Baghdad will result in more September 11-style attacks on the West.

* US lawmakers said they were waiting for President George W. Bush to make his case for invading Iraq before they endorsed it, with evidence that Saddam was prepared to use weapons of mass destruction the key factor.

Senator Dick Lugar, a Republican, said that while not inevitable, it was "probable" an invasion of Iraq would be necessary. But, he added, Bush had to clearly tell Americans why Saddam was a danger.

Senator Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said an attack on Iraq might simply prompt Saddam to use weapons of mass destruction "because he'd have nothing to lose".

- additional reporting AGENCIES

Feature: Iraq

UNSCOM

Iraq Action Coalition (against Iraq sanctions

Arab net - Iraq resources

Iraq Oil-for-Food programme

Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq