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Oz Warships Head To Gulf
As Iraq Tensions Build

10-28-2

(AFP) -- Two Australian warships left their homeport to join the multinational contingent enforcing sanctions on Iraq, as Washington kept up the pressure for possible military strikes on Baghdad.
 
The vessels will replace two other frigates, the Melbourne and Arunta, in the fourth rotation of Australian navy ship to the Gulf following the start of multinational monitoring of sea trade with Iraq last year.
 
A crowd of more than 400 people were on hand to see the frigates HMAS Anzac and HMAS Darwin head off for what the military described as a mission with "the international coalition against terrorism".
 
The Multinational Interception Force is tasked with inspecting merchant traffic transiting in and out of Iraq in accordance with UN sanctions against Baghdad.
 
But the Australian warships could also find themselves in a US-led military offensive if Baghdad refuses to meet Washington's conditions for revealing and destroying its alleged stockpile of weapons of mass destruction.
 
The UN security council has been haggling over the wording of a resolution on Iraq's weapons program, with France and Russia resisting US demands the document includes an automatic trigger for military action if Baghdad fails to comply with disarmament demands.
 
US President George W Bush indicated over the weekend that he was tiring of the debate and could press ahead with unilateral action.
 
"If the UN does not pass a resolution which holds him to account and that has consequences, then, as I have said in speech after speech after speech, if the UN won't act, if Saddam Hussein won't disarm, we will lead a coalition to disarm him," he said.
 
Australia's conservative government has indicated it would join any US-led strikes on Iraq, although Prime Minister John Howard reiterated at the weekend that he preferred a diplomatic solution to the standoff.
 
 
 
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