Ali.009
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[Discuss the future scenario regarding US invasion in Pakistan, too many rumors in the air and not even a single person has bothered addressing this issue, Can it happen? Will it happen? How Pakistan's Army might respond to it]
Invasion of Pakistan imminent, says Katter | The Australian
THE US will invade Pakistan to deal with instability and Australia must send troops there, too, says independent MP Bob Katter.
Mr Katter told parliament yesterday the situation in Pakistan was increasing the likelihood of a US invasion, which Australia should support.
Speaking during the debate on Afghanistan, Mr Katter, who was once the proud owner of an AK-47 assault rifle, said the security situation in Pakistan was "highly volatile".
With the government of Pakistan under increasing threat from armed fundamentalist rebels, a US military invasion was inevitable, Mr Katter said.
"Having said all those things, there has never been any doubt in my mind that if the Americans go in and they request us to go in, we absolutely must go in.
"This is not a happy event for Australia.
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"Are we to tag along as the tail on the donkey? Yes, that is absolutely correct."
Greens leader Bob Brown gave a very different view.
He said the war in Afghanistan was a "strategic stuff-up", with former prime minister John Howard to blame, along with George W. Bush and Tony Blair.
Senator Brown accused Mr Howard of mismanaging the war by prematurely withdrawing forces in 2002 after a US-led coalition ousted hardline Taliban insurgents from power.
The Bush administration bungled its war aims by invading Iraq straight after gaining control of Afghanistan in 2002, Senator Brown said.
"John Howard's role as deputy sheriff, or as George Bush put it in this parliament in 2003, a man of steel, cannot be forgotten or disregarded," he said.
"Our troops are fighting in 2010 because Bush, Howard and others, like Tony Blair, bungled their international ascendancy in 2001-03."
With the instigators of the war in Afghanistan comfortably retired, the death toll among civilians and soldiers continued to rise, Senator Brown said.
He challenged Julia Gillard to have a "defined exit strategy" from Afghanistan before the next debate.
Yesterday, Defence confirmed that four soldiers had been wounded last week during a firefight with the Taliban in Sha Wali Kot, in southern Afghanistan. Two soldiers would be evacuated home, one of whom had a serious wound, a Defence spokesman said.
It brings to 156 the total number of Australian soldiers wounded in action in Afghanistan since 2001.
A total of 21 Diggers have been killed over the same period, 10 this year alone.
