Howard lashes rival for opposing strikes on SE Asia

Howard lashes rival for opposing strikes on SE Asia

Agencies, Canberra

Prime Minister John Howard criticized on Sunday his election
rival Mark Latham for ruling out pre-emptive strikes against
terrorist targets in Southeast Asia if Australia were under
direct threat.

Howard caused a storm in the wake of the 2002 Bali bombings
when he said he would order pre-emptive strikes in neighboring
countries if it was learned an organization such as Jamaah
Islamiyah (JI) was planning an attack on Australia.

Opposition Labor Party leader Latham rejected the notion of
pre-emptive strikes when asked what his approach to regional
terrorism would be if he won national elections on Oct. 9.

"We've rejected Mr. Howard's notion of pre-emption, extended
pre-emption," Latham told Channel Nine. "You need to do things in
cooperation with our neighbors.

"There's obviously sovereignty issues involved with that
question, our approach is diplomacy cooperation with our
neighbors."

Latham said Howard's approach had caused concern around the
region and the prime minister was eventually forced to back away
from them.

But Howard said he had never backed away from his policy of
pre-emption and was alarmed by Latham's remarks.

"The question was 'If you knew there was going to be an attack
on Australia, would you be willing to act to stop it?'" Howard
told reporters.

"What other answer can an Australian prime minister give than
to give that answer? I'm amazed that Mr. Latham didn't give the
same answer as I gave."

JI set off a car bomb that killed nine people outside the
Australian embassy in Jakarta this month and was responsible for
the October 2002 Bali bombings in which 88 Australians were among
the 202 dead.

Latham said Australia should be concentrating resources on
helping its neighbors fight terrorism in the region, rather than
taking part in the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

He has vowed to bring most of Australia's 850 troops in and
around Iraq back to Australia by Christmas if he wins the
election.

While Howard is adamant Australia's troops will remain in Iraq
until the job is done and Defense Minister Robert Hill said on
Sunday that could be as early as the end of next year according
to a United Nations timetable.

Latham also made a push on Sunday on security, one of the
government's strongest points, promising to bolster maritime
defense with a coastguard and sea marshals if it wins an Oct. 9
election.

Latham, whose party has fallen behind Prime Minister John
Howard's conservative government in a recent poll, said the A$300
million (US$210 million) plan would free Australia's navy to
fight security threats.

"Australia has 37,000 km of coastline and only Labor's plan
for a coastguard will protect us from the gun runners, drug
traffickers and people smugglers," said Latham, who announced the
policy in Australia's northern city of Darwin.

"An Australian coastguard will free up the navy to focus on
defense priorities, including the war on terror in our region."

Howard's eight-year-old government won the last election in
Nov. 2001, on the back of a strong economy and a tough stance on
border protection, which included deploying the navy to divert
boatloads of illegal immigrants away from Australia.

The election has attracted international attention as it
precedes the U.S. presidential vote on Nov. 2 being fought
largely on security and the war on terror, and a British vote
widely expected to be called in May or June.

Labor's maritime security plan consists of three armed deep
ocean vessels with helicopter landing platforms, five smaller
armed vessels, three helicopters, an armed sea marshals program
and a vessel tracking system for Darwin harbor.

Latham said seas marshals would be authorized to board and
secure high-risk vessels, carrying cargoes such as fertilizers
and chemicals, for safe passage into major Australian ports.

But Foreign Minister Alexander Downer questioned why Labor
would want to spend hundreds of millions of dollars changing a
maritime security system that he said was already seeing results.

"The fact of the matter is that under the Howard government,
Australia has a world-class coastal surveillance system in place
that is working incredibly well," Downer said in a statement.