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| Down Under | |
| No Australian combat troops to fight in Middle East | |
| 2015-11-25 | |
| The so-called Islamic State (IS) group is weak and Australia has no plans to send combat troops to fight it, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says. His remarks contrasted with former prime minister Tony Abbott's description of IS as a "death cult". Mr Abbott, now serving as a backbench MP, called for Australia to commit combat troops to the Middle East after the Paris attacks. Mr Turnbull told Australia's House of Representatives that IS relied on its propaganda network and "we must not be fooled by its hype". Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has rejected calls to send combat troops to the Middle East. But the group must be defeated militarily in Iraq and Syria, where it has overrun vast swathes of territory, he said.
"It does not command broad-based legitimacy even in those areas under its direct control. It is encircled by hostile forces. It is under military pressure." Mr Turnbull made the comments as part of national security statement to Australia's parliament. Tony Abbott never backed away from his description of the so-called Islamic State (IS) as a "death cult". When terrorism experts said IS would be delighted that his colourful description promoted the group's propaganda aims, Mr Abbott was dismissive. "I think we should call things what they are," he said in June this year. Fast-forward five months and Australia's political landscape is very different. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who deposed Mr Abbott in September, wants to undercut IS's effective propaganda. Rather than boots on the ground, Mr Turnbull is focusing on a war of ideas. Mr Turnbull said the government of Iraq believed the presence of large numbers of Western troops in that country would be "counter-productive". He also said the consensus of world leaders was that there was no appetite for a large-scale invasion of Syria. The deployment of Australian combat troops to either Iraq or Syria would be neither "feasible" nor "practical", Mr Turnbull said. Former defence minister Kevin Andrews and Liberal MP Michael Sukkar had backed Mr Abbott's call for "boots on the ground" following the Paris attacks. Currently there are around 90 Australian special forces soldiers advising counter-terror agencies in Iraq, as well as around 300 soldiers training members of the Iraqi national army. Australia also has six aircraft bombing IS positions in both Iraq and Syria as part of the US-led coalition. Mr Turnbull said Australia's commitment to the Middle East conflict was already large given the country's size and geographic location. "Larger for example than any European nation, larger than Canada or any of the neighbouring Arab states," he said. | |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #4 Australia should create a foreign legion to go fight. Let radicals sneak their way in. Then when they get to the area make it easy for them to go MIA. Then cancel their passport. I'm fairly confident you'll get no true want to help my new nation volunteers but if you do that works even better. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2015-11-25 14:08 |
| #3 Sorry Ship, they may not know it but the AU is struggling to maintain their own national WASP identity. Their only reason to participate in the SE Asia festivities is to polish strategy, practice tactics and create data feeds for export back home. The north coastal states are as overrun with Indonesian migration as the southern US states bordering Mexico. |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2015-11-25 11:51 |
| #2 Australia imported a HUGE number of Sunni Islamist migrants in the 1990s Now we are reaping the whirlwind. They have used Saudi money to establish a hugely well-organised movement They are in control of vocal lobby groups. The Sunni Islamist faction is in control of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils which has branch councils in every state They are funding think tanks on university campuses and are pumping their members through the academic mill so they are the next generation of commentators they are commanding media coverage - every time media turns for comment from muslims the only muslim groups and leaders to step forward are the Sunni Islamists. They also work to tear down the lone secular voices like Dr Jamal Rifi Secularism is the only solution to Islamism eg Banning sharia but australia has a huge problem now because Islamists are firmly in control particularly in the multicultural lobby they have also been logging and documenting Islamophobia to use as a weapon Years of propaganda of *islam is the religion of peace, dont blame islam* means ordinary people are just blaming all islam and have no idea of the secular - theocrat split. This is feeding the Islamophobia mill as they predictably lash out Turnbull will not be able to govern the nation if he goes to fight in the middle east because the Islamists will turn their cultural power against him as they did on Tony Abbott they forced Abbott out they would do the same to Turnbull and he knows it |
| Posted by: anon1 2015-11-25 07:20 |
| #1 Send blankets and juice packs, that should cover your soul well enough. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2015-11-25 07:17 |