Australia yesterday refused to apologize to Spain and the Philippines for saying their withdrawal of troops from Iraq encouraged militants.
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Spain and the Philippines needed "to face up to the truth" that they were being exploited by terrorists, who were using them as examples when threatening other countries with attack.
Spain summoned Australia's ambassador in Madrid on Monday to protest Downer's comments over the past two days, which it described as "unacceptable."
PHOTO: REUTERS
"There's no point in trying to scurry away from the truth ... I am sensitive about the fact that terrorists use the examples of Spain and the Philippines in order to put pressure on Australia," Downer told Australian radio. "If you accede to the demands of terrorists they will exploit the acceding to their demand ... we are not going to apologize. We'll let bygones be bygones."
Downer's comments came after a group claiming to be the European wing of al-Qaeda threatened Australia and Italy with attacks if they did not follow Spain and the Philippines by withdrawing their troops from war-torn Iraq.
Australia is still investigating the credibility of the threats made by the Islamic Tawhid Group in a statement posted on a Web site that said it would attack Italy and Australia with "columns of rigged cars."
The previously unheard of Islamic Tawhid Group last week also threatened Bulgaria and Poland if they did not leave Iraq.
Spain's Socialist party had vowed to pull troops out of Iraq and made good on its promise after unexpectedly winning a March 11 poll, three days after 191 people were killed in coordinated train bombings in Madrid blamed on Islamic militants.
The Philippines brought its troops home earlier this month to save the life of a Filipino taken hostage in Iraq.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard yesterday said he supported Downer's comments and denied his minister had sparked a row with Spain and the Philippines.
"There's no rift, there's a difference of opinion about Iraq," Howard told reporters in Sydney. "[The withdrawal of troops] sent the wrong signal and you don't buy immunity from terrorist attacks by giving in to them."
Howard last week defended his decision to join the US-led war on Iraq after a report criticized Australia's intelligence agencies and their assessments of pre-war information.
He has said Australia's 850 troops in and around Iraq will stay as long as necessary. A poll has shown two-thirds of Australians support his stand.
But the opposition center-left Labor party, polling neck-and-neck with the eight-year-old government, has pledged to bring troops home by late-December if it wins office in a cliffhanger election tipped for October.
Labor leader Mark Latham said Australia should be concentrating on cooperating with international allies in the war on terror rather than "squabbling."
He told reporters: "We've got to be cooperative rather than part of an international blame game."
Eleven people, including a former minister, were arrested in Serbia on Friday over a train station disaster in which 16 people died. The concrete canopy of the newly renovated station in the northern city of Novi Sad collapsed on Nov. 1, 2024 in a disaster widely blamed on corruption and poor oversight. It sparked a wave of student-led protests and led to the resignation of then-Serbian prime minister Milos Vucevic and the fall of his government. The public prosecutor’s office in Novi Sad opened an investigation into the accident and deaths. In February, the public prosecutor’s office for organized crime opened another probe into
RISING RACISM: A Japanese group called on China to assure safety in the country, while the Chinese embassy in Tokyo urged action against a ‘surge in xenophobia’ A Japanese woman living in China was attacked and injured by a man in a subway station in Suzhou, China, Japanese media said, hours after two Chinese men were seriously injured in violence in Tokyo. The attacks on Thursday raised concern about xenophobic sentiment in China and Japan that have been blamed for assaults in both countries. It was the third attack involving Japanese living in China since last year. In the two previous cases in China, Chinese authorities have insisted they were isolated incidents. Japanese broadcaster NHK did not identify the woman injured in Suzhou by name, but, citing the Japanese
YELLOW SHIRTS: Many protesters were associated with pro-royalist groups that had previously supported the ouster of Paetongtarn’s father, Thaksin, in 2006 Protesters rallied on Saturday in the Thai capital to demand the resignation of court-suspended Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and in support of the armed forces following a violent border dispute with Cambodia that killed more than three dozen people and displaced more than 260,000. Gathered at Bangkok’s Victory Monument despite soaring temperatures, many sang patriotic songs and listened to speeches denouncing Paetongtarn and her father, former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and voiced their backing of the country’s army, which has always retained substantial power in the Southeast Asian country. Police said there were about 2,000 protesters by mid-afternoon, although
MOGAMI-CLASS FRIGATES: The deal is a ‘big step toward elevating national security cooperation with Australia, which is our special strategic partner,’ a Japanese official said Australia is to upgrade its navy with 11 Mogami-class frigates built by Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles said yesterday. Billed as Japan’s biggest defense export deal since World War II, Australia is to pay US$6 billion over the next 10 years to acquire the fleet of stealth frigates. Australia is in the midst of a major military restructure, bolstering its navy with long-range firepower in an effort to deter China. It is striving to expand its fleet of major warships from 11 to 26 over the next decade. “This is clearly the biggest defense-industry agreement that has ever
RSS