- (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.
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- 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.
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- 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".
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- The Multinational Interception Force is tasked with inspecting
merchant traffic transiting in and out of Iraq in accordance with UN sanctions
against Baghdad.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- US President George W Bush indicated over the weekend
that he was tiring of the debate and could press ahead with unilateral
action.
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- "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.
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- 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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