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Judgement, truth and commonsense

By Bruce Haigh

Posted July 29, 2008 08:49:00
Updated July 29, 2008 09:08:00

Australian Special Forces task group soldiers in Afghanistan.

The war in Afghanistan is not winnable by military means. (Reuters: Australian Defence Force)

Appointing Joel Fitzgibbon as Minister for Defence was not one of Kevin Rudd's better decisions. Fitzgibbon's choice of personal staff has been found to be wanting but more importantly the job is too big for Fitzgibbon.

On a recent visit to Washington, Fitzgibbon said he was in two minds about the war in Afghanistan. On some days, he confessed, the war seemed unwinnable on other days he was more optimistic. Flip flop, such a display of tough mindedness should send shivers up the spine of parents who have children in the ADF.

The war is not winnable by military means. While Australia has troops on the ground in Afghanistan it should use that leverage to talk to the Taliban in Pakistan and their backers to ascertain what it is they want. Is this a religious crusade or is it a Pathan battle for power with both tribal and broader nationalistic overtones? Australia should attempt to determine how much of the growing call to arms has been fuelled by the US and NATO presence in Pathan tribal lands in Afghanistan. Remember the Russians and the British before them.

Regional diplomacy

Fitzgibbon told the media in Washington he was more than happy for the Americans to talk to the Pakistan government about curtailing support for and curbing the activities of the Taliban. Australia should be conducting its own diplomacy. This is not the Vietnam war. We have a diplomatic service and we should be using it. We need to talk to the government of Pakistan, but more importantly we need to talk to the Taliban. It is them we are fighting and risking the lives of young Australians.

Fitzgibbon's deferral to the US amounted to an abrogation of Australian sovereignty. It was craven and humiliating and took this country back 40 years.

With over 1,000 troops on the ground in Afghanistan, Fitzgibbon and the Foreign Minister, Stephen Smith, should have argued to Kevin Rudd that instead of spending $5 million establishing an embassy in the Vatican, with running costs of $3 million a year, Australia should have put those resources into established regional posts particularly Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. The chances are the first they knew of the decision was after it was announced.

Of all people Rudd should be aware of the need to properly staff embassies, particularly in our region, with people who have had appropriate training, including language training. To open an embassy in the Vatican which will return little in the way of advancing our interests, either politically or in terms of trade, seems the height of indulgence from a practicing Catholic. All the more so when six months ago Rudd forced Foreign Affairs to slash its budget by $57 million.

Stephen Smith has been overshadowed by Rudd's forays into foreign relations, no wonder he was so pleased to secure his very own visit to his home state of US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice.

Unhealthy secrecy

Fitzgibbon has to know that the Australian public are sick of being lied to by the ADF. We read of a tragically delayed medivac by US helicopter in Afghanistan, not from an ADF press release but by a leaked email from a Dutch military doctor. There has never been such secrecy surrounding an Australian military involvement as there has been in Afghanistan. Some of it is necessary, most is not.

At the announcement of the death of SAS Trooper McCarthy in Afghanistan, the chief of the Defence Force, Air Vice Marshall Angus Houston, said the soldier was evacuated immediately. That raises a worrying dilemma, either Houston knew the truth and covered up or he was not advised by those on the ground in Afghanistan. The truth rests with one or other. Houston must come clean. Under the circumstances it is hard to have confidence in him.

This degree of secrecy is unhealthy. It leads all too readily to opting for the cover-up when disclosure should be the way to go. Australia is after all a democracy. If the ADF wants to fill the many boots now vacant both they and their Minister must take the Australian public much more into their confidence. If they are prepared to conduct military operations which might have adverse diplomatic consequences they should factor in the cost of disclosure.

Joel Fitzgibbon needs to get a grip on himself and his department or better still, before decisions are made in response to the soon to be released Defence white paper, he should be replaced by Greg Combet.

Bruce Haigh is a political commentator, retired diplomat and former soldier.

Tags: defence-and-national-security, defence-forces, security-alliances, federal-government, foreign-affairs, unrest-conflict-and-war, afghanistan, australia

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Comments (57)

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dragon:

29 Jul 2008 9:24:56am

Just another example of the K Rudd government's hap hazardly throwing together a cabinet full of inexperienced people. Garrett, Smith, Roxon and Fitzgibbon are front runners to be replaced before the next election if Labor are serious about a second term.

Although in defence of some of the issues directed at Fitzgibbon, there will always by secrets held by the defence forces of any nation, of which the leader of the country will not even be privy to.

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Jack:

29 Jul 2008 9:45:21am

Well, Rudd the catholic establishes a Vatican Embassy at a cost of some AU$8,000,000 for the first year. How surprising, the early post-election photos of Rudd showed him grinning like he'ld won the lottery, and it looks like he has.

Too bad for our troops in Afghanistan...

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PShaw:

29 Jul 2008 9:53:16am

It seems to me that all Fitzgibbon is guilty of is being honest -- perhaps that is what the "retired diplomat" author cannot stomach. As for the US speaking with Pakistan etc -- well it is the Americans' 'war', any diplomatic agreement reached would need their approval, and in any event they would agree to nothing that they did not broker.

Remind me why we are there?

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Somewhat Perplexed:

29 Jul 2008 10:26:22am

I was once in the ADF and party to an incident in peacetime.

I can say the ADF lie. I can also say they send out commanding officers to rip into the troups who tell the truth which opposes the ADF official line.
So lying about Afganistan is not a new thing. They have a long and proud history of not telling the truth.

Then there is Fitzgibbon. Surely you are not suggesting he is doing an inferior job to Nelson.

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Robert2:

29 Jul 2008 10:31:40am

"Unhealthy Secrecy," I very much doubt if this is some kind of new phenonenom to the ADF.

With the ongoing policy of shoe horned, set aside training, (not persons interested in Australias long term welfare and interests,) but dedicated disciples to dysfunctionalism and the old world monarchy, how consistant does the negative flow of information have to be before it is recognised as a culture?

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Treadlightly:

29 Jul 2008 10:42:59am

This approach to Afghanistan would be what George Bush calls 'negotiating with terrorists'. Asking the Taliban 'what they want' is a very good idea, and probably exactly what will happen when Obama comes to power, but I think the bigger question is 'what did the Republicans want' when they sought to remove the Taliban in the first place.

US bases in Saudi Arabia are being shut down and moved out. America is no longer welcome in the region except in Turkey and Israel, and all OPEC countries are now moving to reject the US dollar in return for oil.

America's unsustainable energy consumption is the whole concern, and the war is an expense we should not be paying for.
An even bigger concern is the 500million dollars we are about to invest in 'clean coal'.

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Az:

29 Jul 2008 10:50:01am

Australia's mercenaries are in Afghanistan, paying off the debt of allegiance to the USA.

It's appalling watching your own countries resources (and young lives) being pissed away on an endeavour that has nothing to do with defence.

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Karlis:

29 Jul 2008 11:23:12am

So because Fitzgibbon didn't ask for the 8million being spent on the Vatican to instead go to defence he should be sacked?? What a strange "comment"(ator) to make, Bruce. Why not argue for Tony Abbot's 7million saving in the IVF program to be redirected to defence?

It seems Fitzgibbon's only mistake was to talk while still in the process of understanding the Afghanistan situation. How dare he!

And I wonder why we should repeat the same diplomacy with Pakistan that the US is doing when we're allies in the region and striving for the one goal? Isn't that a decision for the diplotmats and politicians? Seems like there's not a huge problem here.

Sick of not having real power? Become a commentator! At the very least diatribes like this can be confused as powerful.

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Ford:

29 Jul 2008 11:24:35am

"On some days, he confessed, the war seemed unwinnable on other days he was more optimistic"
Yes, that's called 'realism' as opposed to the sort of "Mission Accomplished" spin we see from less honest politicians.
It's a mark of wisdom to admit what you don't know.
Clearly, Mr Haigh knows everything.

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Pete:

29 Jul 2008 11:38:08am

"ask the Taliban what they want?"

If only we would have asked Hitler what he wanted, back in the 30s..everything would have been peachy. Oh hang on we did, and Czechoslovakia was handed on a silver plate. The rest is history.

Maybe if we let the Taliban only be as half as brutal to the people of Afghanistan, we can sleep better at nights. I mean getting acid thrown on your face for not weaing the veil, maybe thats just an acceptable cultural practise?

Appeasement is appeasement, no matter how you spin it.

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AATTV 39:

29 Jul 2008 12:41:55pm

There is nothing wrong with minister Joel Fitzgibbon's appointment to the Defence portfolio.
At least he is attempting to unravel the RAAF purchase of vital fighter/bomber aircraft which is more I can say about the past Government minister.
He has even considered Russian super planes as a genuine replacement for our aging F-111 and super dooper F-18's. 1 third the cost, 4 times as good as any Yankee aircraft that is yet to fly!
Countries surrounding us are all flying Sukhoi aircraft that out perform any Yankee aircraft. But the truth is we are locked into an expensive purchase from the Yanks, just to keep face. How rediculous is that?

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bill:

29 Jul 2008 1:12:52pm

Add Peter Garrett to the list of no talent in the KRUDD team.
What has done since the election, nothing.

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ram:

29 Jul 2008 1:35:53pm

If the defense minister want to get some experience back into the ADF the first thing he can do is re-hire the Australians John Howard sacked (fired) when he gave all the defense contracts to foreign arms dealers and mercs.

And what is Australia doing in Afghanistan except lining the pockets of foreign arms dealers and mercs?

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Pete:

29 Jul 2008 3:08:48pm

I don't think negotiating with the Taliban is an option and I doubt it would even be possible. The writter assumes that they are an organized cohesive and united force and I don't believe that is the case. Many of the so called "Taliban" are in fact groups acting under various war-lords mostly out of self interest. The remainder are religous fanatics and zeolots. Good luck negotiating with that lot!

The writter's call for greater honesty from the ADF however is very worthy. Whilst I am very proud of our armed forces, the way it manages information is negligent at best and down right lying at worst.

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rachel:

29 Jul 2008 3:22:05pm

What we are seeing from this government, via comments from
the Defence minister is the kind of openness and transparency in
the process as opposed to the black hole of commentary in the Howard govt. Labor is not gagging its ministers to anywhere near the same extent as the previous administration. The minister is being candid, honest and open about his processes, thought
and political. What we got from the previous minister(s) was
an approach that basically asserted that the public are not interested in the process of government and "trust me" was the "relaxed and
comfortable" approach to commentary ie the public only got canned
responses from the minister, not the facts. What we see in Labor
is a more open and candid style, warts and all. This is both a strength and weakness in Labor's style as it allows for the media and opposition to misreport and attack where it is actually not warranted.

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sinekal :

29 Jul 2008 3:52:08pm

Judgement.. Andrew Wilkie, Rod Barton and Lance Collins showed that when they disagreed with the "official" ONA, ADF and Howard Government positions on Iraq, Afghanistan and East Timor.

Truth.. well history shows us the same guys told the truth. No WMD's, lies from allies selling us tanks, planes, bombs and rockets to fight their war, atrocities in East Timor, tortue of suspected terrorists.

Commonsense.. the only missing part of the equation because those three guys should be leading ASIO, ONA UN and any other organisation that prides itself on integrity and a job well done. In fact anywhere the truth is more important than the spin.

What a tragedy our repected military forces do such a great job of behalf of the people who orchestrated the downfall of these three. They should be the heroes but the truth denied them. How many others share the view that those who perpetuated the lies are all still employed and probably promoted.

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Bob:

29 Jul 2008 5:56:13pm

Are we really going to show the world such a vote of no confidence in our defence forces and the leader of the nations military policy. Is that wise? There are unknown elements even within this country I suspect, that would find this information invaluable. I trust that those who are responsible for the safeguarding of military intelligence, would find this situation a little alarming. I dont believe myself to be an overly cautious military strategist by any means, however, I dont think this kind of negative rhetoric is conjusive to good military morale, at the very least.

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CLF:

29 Jul 2008 7:15:21pm

Yes. Defence have secrets that's nothing new but has anyone thought that they often have a reason for this?

You know, something along the lines of security for our forces in regions such as Afghanistan? If they were to publicise every move to keep the Australian public informed and happy that would also keep the "enemy" informed and more than happy.

I'm not saying the fact that we are there is right or wrong so please don't jump on me for that. The point I'm making is that there are reasons we don't get the whole story and most of those involve security and not the conspiracy theories that get sprouted every time an incident is actually reported.

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kris martin:

29 Jul 2008 9:30:20pm

Well done Bruce!

Consider that, as an ageing ex-hippy still radical/crazy after all these years and still very lefty, this is hard for me to offer, but how can one logically dispute your factual and well-reasoned opinion, especially with your background. The war is unwinnable, but we are there, and common sense and intelligent forward thinking will enable us to eventually depart with our helds held high, and with pride for a job well-done, in the old Aussie tradition.

It should be obvious to a dead fish in a box that military engagement must be balanced with a highly visible and practical level of social/community engagement such that it will leave permanent benefits for the local population, and instil the respect for Oz that has been so well-earned through hard work in the past sixty years.

Cheers, and looking forward to some more common-sense.

Kris Martin
Albany WA

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stirling votor:

29 Jul 2008 11:40:46pm

It is rather ironic that people like this critisise the Rudd government - we are in these invidious positions thanks to 10 years of Howard. Rudd is supposed to turn things around in 10 minutes.
And as for being a Doctor giving Brendon Nelson experience - as a health worker I have consistently with my colleagues rated many Drs as being totally out for number 1.

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Judgement, truth and commonsense

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