Senator armed himself in Iraq

CANBERRA - Australia has been gripped by the extraordinary account of a visit to Iraq by a senator who accepted the use of a handgun, was pictured holding an assault rifle with Kurdish fighters, and who is now preparing legal action against reports that he smuggled money to the country on behalf of oil giant Woodside Energy.

Ross Lightfoot, a Liberal senator from Western Australia and the acting deputy president of the Senate, now faces a Federal Police investigation into allegations he stitched US$20,000 ($27,000) into the lining of a jacket in breach of Australian currency laws.

But his denials have satisfied Prime Minister John Howard, and Defence Minister Robert Hill yesterday told the Senate that Senator Lightfoot had neither smuggled the money into Iraq nor conducted business during his visit, which would have contravened the rules of overseas parliamentary visits.

But Mr Hill confirmed that Senator Lightfoot had accepted the use of a pistol: "It is a dangerous environment and I'm not surprised that some people look to protection in the form of firearms."

Senator Lightfoot, a former mounted policeman, Outback miner and pastoralist well used to firearms, told Sydney radio station 2UE that he had no problems accepting the use of a .38 calibre pistol. "This is not the [Australian Capital Territory], this is not Manuka [a Canberra suburb] on a Sunday morning," he said.

"These people play for keeps over there."

The tale of Senator Lightfoot's trip to Iraq in January to observe the country's first democratic elections emerged from his report to Parliament of the visit, reported in News Ltd newspapers and splashed across the front page of Sydney's Daily Telegraph under the headline Smoking Gun.

The newspaper also carried a striking photograph of a smiling Senator Lightfoot holding an AK47 assault rifle and flanked by Kurdish fighters of the Iraq National Guard.

Senator Lightfoot said he would instruct his lawyers to take action against News Ltd over the money allegations but News Ltd said it stood by its report.