Veterans and ex service people say No! to AUSMIN.
Gillard and Rudd betray the Australian Armed Services
Stand Fast, the national association of veterans and ex-service people against the Afghan and Iraq wars, will be speaking out against the military deals being struck at the Melbourne AUSMIN by PM Julia Gillard, Foreign Affairs Minister Rudd, US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, and Defence Secretary, Robert Gates,
from noon to 2 pm Monday 8 November 2010
at gates of Victoria Barracks,
256-310 St Kilda Rd, Southbank
"In agreeing to allow the US to occupy Australian military bases and share command, Gillard and Rudd are betraying the Australian armed services and the Australian nation," said Hamish Chitts, East Timor veteran and spokesperson for Stand Fast.
"Would the US allow a foreign power to occupy its military bases and share command? Absolutely not! A sovereign nation must have sovereignty in its military bases, otherwise it ceases to be a sovereign nation."
"This deal will make the Australian Defence Force anything but defensive and Australian only in terms of the source of the taxes which will pay for it," Chitts said"
"As if endless war in Afghanistan is not enough, Clinton and Gates are demanding
more in the name of the US - Australian Alliance: endless wars in the Pacific too."
And all in the name of constraining China, our major trading partner whose economic stability saved us from ruinous consequences of the US created Global Financial Crisis. Madness!
Stand Fast says: Support the troops! Bring them home from Afghanistan! End the lies. End the wars. End the US Alliance.
The Victoria Barracks Speak Out will be the sixth in a national campaign of barrack gate Speak Outs by veterans opposing the Afghan and Iraq wars.