Down Under Comes Through

by OpinionJournal.com Friday, Jan. 24, 2003 at 12:35 PM

23 Jan 03 http://www.opinionjournal.com/best/?id=110002953

Down Under Comes Through
The past couple of days, the American press has been filled with reports about French and German hand-wringing over Iraq. We'll get to that in a moment, but first we'd like to tip our hat to a real ally. Australia has deployed a transport carrier to the Persian Gulf "in preparation for a possible war against Iraq," reports the Melbourne Age. Prime Minister John Howard made a speech to the troops:

I believe that it is right for the international community to try to disarm Iraq. I believe that if the international community balked at that task, if it walks away from it, if it gives up because it is too hard, Iraq will not oblige by giving up her weapons of mass destruction. She will be emboldened not only to retain them but to also expand them. And the example of that successful defiance will be copied by other countries and we will increasingly live in a world where a growing number of rogue states possess weapons that could do enormous damage not only to their neighbours but to the broader community.