Severed head pics steel Oz resolve to back US
Anti-Isis role for military in Iraq looks likely
Shocked by atrocities and fearful of the rise of a terrorist state, Australia may provide military backing for United States operations against extremists in Iraq. Australia is already preparing to send transport aircraft to join the US, Britain and France in dropping emergency supplies to tens of thousands of Iraqis trapped on a barren mountain by Isis (Islamic State) forces threatening to massacre them.
Yesterday Defence Minister David Johnson said the Government had not ruled out supporting US strikes against Isis forces, which were to be “extremely feared and taken with great seriousness”.
Further incentive for Australian operations came with the publication on Twitter of photographs of the young son of Australian terrorist Khaled Sharrouf holding the severed head of a Syrian soldier.
The photo was captioned by Sharrouf: “That’s my boy!”
Sharrouf, who was also pictured holding the head, is fighting with Isis extremists, who now hold large parts of Syria and Iraq and have declared an Islamic caliphate, a state ruled by strict sharia law.
Sharrouf was jailed for more than three years for taking part in a plot to attack Holsworthy army barracks in Sydney, and later fled Australia using his brother’s passport. He is now wanted by the Australian Federal Police for atrocities in Syria and Iraq.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the pictures showed the kind of “hideous atrocities” Isis was capable of.
“We see more and more evidence of just how barbaric this entity is,” he told ABC radio.
Australia is already further beefing up its intelligence and counterterrorism agencies with extra funding of A$630 million ($693 million) over the next four years and greater powers to fight what it calls the growing threat of terror attacks against the nation.
Abbott, in the Netherlands to offer condolences for the Dutch victims of the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in Ukraine, has also foreshadowed further sanctions against Russia. They could include exports of uranium, which began in 2012 after the two countries signed an agreement on the peaceful use of nuclear energy.
“Everything is on the table,” Abbott said. “We certainly are looking at tougher sanctions. I think the world is looking at tougher sanctions.”
The Greens yesterday supported tougher action and said Russian President Vladimir Putin should be told he must give the recovery operation, which includes Australians, access to the crash site or he “won’t be welcome” at November’s G20 summit in Brisbane.
In Canberra, Iraq will be high on the agenda of annual talks today between US Secretary of State John Kerry and Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel, Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and Johnson.
Johnson told the ABC yesterday Australia could not “just sit back and watch atrocities unfold on their nightly television”. Australia was ready to assist in whatever way it could if asked by the US and the Iraqi Government.
“This [Isis] terrorist organisation is to be extremely feared and taken with great seriousness. We’ve seen atrocities. We’ve seen all manner of things. Who knows what the future holds with these people?
“Now the fact is this could turn very, very nasty in a very short space of time . . . and I don’t believe right-minded countries can just sit back and watch atrocities unfold on their nightly television without taking some action.
“We’re not ruling out providing some back-up assistance to the Americans as they go in and deal kinetically with this terrorist organisation.”
Any military involvement would be unlikely to include any direct combat role. Instead, Australia would be most likely to act in support roles.