Australian Pilot Refuses US Bombing Order

["Craven, Jim" <jcraven@xxxxxxxxx>]

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3251554&thesection=news&t
he
>
> subsection=world
>
> Australian pilot gives thumbs down to US bombing order
> 24.03.2003
> By GREG ANSLEY Australia correspondent
>
> CANBERRA - An Australian FA/18 Hornet pilot has refused an American
> command to bomb a target in Iraq in the first conflict between the
> different rules governing the way the two allies make war.
>
> Although Prime Minister John Howard said the incident during the
> coalition's drive towards Baghdad was not evidence of tension between
>
> the two commands, the prospect of a clash of rules was clear from the
>
> start.
>
> Australia operates under a tougher set of rules of engagement than the
> US because Canberra has ratified more international agreements than
> Washington.
>
> The refusal of the RAAF pilot to release his precision-guided bombs
> came
> as:
>
> pf* Australian Navy boarding parties captured three Iraqi dhows loaded
> with 86 mines and a "wide array of military weapons" as their crews
> tried to slip through the coalition blockade to seed the top of the
> Gulf
> with sophisticated Manta acoustic and other floating mines.
>
> pf* SAS soldiers, after a number of firefights over the weekend,
> called down an air strike on an Iraqi command and control base
> suspected of being involved in the launching of ballistic missiles.
>
> pf* At home, tens of thousands of demonstrators rallied against the
> war, despite a poll showing opposition to Australian involvement had
> significantly weakened since the conflict started, with opinion now
> almost evenly divided.
>
> The decision of the RAAF pilot not to attack an Iraqi target was taken
> when his Hornet, armed with a range of strike weapons, was ordered
> away
> from the round-the-clock escort missions the Australians have been
> flying since war started.
>
> "However, the crew chose not to complete the mission because they
> could not positively identify the target," Defence Force spokesman
> Brigadier
> Mike Hannan said.
>
> "The crew's decision reflects the ADF's strong commitment to the laws
> of armed conflict and its support of the Government's targeting
> policy, right down to the lowest levels."
>
> The rules under which Australians are fighting in Iraq are governed by
> Australian and international law, the 1949 Geneva Convention, and
> additional 1977 protocols that the US has not signed.
>
> A range of weapons in the American arsenal - such as landmines and
> cluster bombs - are banned by Australia, and Canberra has emphasised
> that its forces will refuse to attack civilian targets, including key
>
> bridges, dams and other vital infrastructure of the kind bombed by the
> US in the 1991 Gulf War.
>
> Australia has also emphasised that its troops remain strictly under
> national command, but Brigadier Hannan said the final choice of
> whether
> or not to attack was a decision made by "ordinary young Australians,
> often in a split second, that they will have to live with for the
> rest
> of their lives".
>
> "The rules are all well and good, and they are important and
> necessary, but they are not of themselves sufficient to ensure that
> the laws of armed conflict are upheld and targeting policy is
> implemented."
>
> He said such decisions were made by young pilots flying at very high
> speed, often at night.
>
> "In this case the pilot ... decided that the information didn't
> support the justification for the use of the weapon and aborted the
> mission."


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