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However, the Government must also accept some responsibility for failing to articulate the strategic rationale for the changes it wants to the way in which the Australian Defence Force is configured, used and deployed.
Well, let me think, our defense force has traditionally always been used for, ummm what's the right word... defense. So, what have been the most notable changes in this deployment? Yes, that's right, we are transforming it into an invasion force, useful for attack missions. I wonder why the Australian government would fail to articulate this little bit of information? Maybe because they don't want the Australian people to know what is actually going on.
It has been reluctant to rewrite the now seriously out-of-date 2000 defence white paper, seemingly out of a misplaced concern that a new white paper would be an unnecessary distraction and provide ammunition for critics of the more assertive defence and national security policy pursued in recent years.
John Howard has always played with his cards close to his chest, especially when it comes to honesty. No white paper means he has more wiggle room and more opportunity to avoid accountability -- that's the way he likes it. As he discovered when sending troops to Iraq -- it is easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission.
Unfortunately, the resulting doctrinal hiatus has left our defence policy open to contradictory and often diametrically opposed interpretations, allowing ideological opponents to claim, spuriously, that Hill is out of step with the Prime Minister and that army chief Peter Leahy is running a maverick agenda. This second claim is specious, of course, since in our Westminster system all key decisions and speeches by service chiefs must be cleared by the defence minister.
Ahh, the good old Westminster system... makes it a crime to mislead parliament too I believe. Funny how it is so spurious to claim that anyone might be out of step, but when anything does go obviously wrong it is just so convenient to be able to claim that no one had any information. Throw three children overboard and call me in the morning, hopefully by then you will have found the missing weapons of mass distraction.
[...] the belief that defeating terrorism and preventing an attack on Australian soil is the No.1 national security priority.
No one seriously believes that attacking Iraq has helped prevent a terrorist attack on Australian soil. There are at least ten times more terrorists in Iraq now than there were when John Howard ordered Australian troops to take part in the invasion.
[...] working with the region to contain the terrorist threat [...]
Which is newspeak meaning "being the local bully-boy" and grabbing our share of the resources.
[...] and expressions of concern that weapons of mass destruction may fall into the hands of terrorists groups willing to use them.
Maybe actually find some of these mystical weapons, then worry about whose hands they might fall into. It is well known that our allies possess (by a huge margin) the largest and most destructive cache of weapons ever known to mankind -- weapons of every conceivable shape, size and capability, from genetically engineered disease to vacuum bombs.
[...] the Government's expressed desire to acquire a greater capacity to dispatch the ADF overseas [...]
Another war of aggression coming up for our offense forces?
A restructured, more flexible army with greater firepower, protection and adaptability will save soldiers' lives, increase the range and complexity of tasks the ADF can be confidently expected to accomplish and give future governments more military options. By giving the land force a mix-and-match capability, for example, soldiers who are fighting a conventional enemy can do so more effectively, then quickly transform into a peacekeeping force or seamlessly switch to emergency relief operations.
This has to take the cake for maximum-buzzword sales-speak. Next thing we will be told that the invasion of Iraq was all about being proactive, George Bush is no doubt tasking us to be a facilitator of Democracy.
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