Suggestion - Abrams M1A1 in Queensland...

I was interested to read a letter to the editor today from Major General Ian Gordon, Deputy Chief of Army, arguing that the Abrams M1A1 was the right choice of replacement tank for the army (the fact they're second hand, too heavy and too wide).

One of his arguments is that they can be transported by rail from Darwin to other parts of the country. But lets see what that means in Queensland:

Let's compare the two beasts:

M1A1	w3.64 m	l 7.92 m	h 2.43 m	63.0 tonnes
Leopard	w3.37 m	l 9.54 m	h 2.62 m	42.5 tonnes

The concern here is the additional width (nearly 30cm) and weight (nearly 20 tonnes). In Queensland, the Leopard tanks can be moved by rail around the country - seeing a stand of flatbeds outside of the area north of Rocky is not uncommon - but with an additional 30cm to cater for, I suspect this will be too big for our loading gauge.

Which means they'll need to be moved by road - which will mean significant inconvenience on our lovely narrow highways - let alone the damage caused by the additional 20 tonnes rolling overhead.

Good idea? Not in Queensland I suspect.

Suggestion - Why's the Military on the Nose...

Much has been made recently of Mr Howard's greasy attempt to lure folk into military service. His new "gap year", "try before you buy" is nothing more than a half arsed attempt to bring National Service back in. You can see the approach - start by making it voluntary - of course, no one will sign up - then, following an electoral win, they'll tie it to the Dole, then it'll be compulsary for anyone 18-20 on a "random" selection.

Yet, I'm staggered the government is unable to see the obvious reason why military service is on the nose - namely, the politicisation of the ADF. It's been going on for a while now - firstly Tampa, then Children Overboard - both used by an encumbent government to retain power and knowingly corrupted the ADF to its end by distorting the facts and forcing them to stay quiet.

Now of course we have the Iraq debacle - sent into a completely partisan fight to suck up to Bush on a campaign clearly NOTHING to sdo with the watr on terror - resulting of course in taking the eyes of Afghanistan which is another looming basket case. Had they held their will against Bush and sent our troops into campaigns with a TRUE moral agenda, then perhaps it wouldn't be so "on the nose".

Aussie troops have long prided themselves on their humanitarian position, by befriending the locals which in turn helps to defeat the enemy combatitans. Without that, who are your friends?

So, Mr Howard, pull us out of Iraq, reaffirm our commitment in Afghanistan and pledge to commit to a fight where we have a moral position, and perhaps the ADF will have a future.

Question - The Rush to Conflict?

I'm amazed at the astounding certainty that our political leaders have regarding North Korea's recent "alledged" nuclear tests. There's been suggestion for days that it wasn't a nuclear bomb, yet from the rhetoric surrounding the event, you'd never know.

Yet, we have conflicting comments like this from the BBC which claims that "US scientists found that there were traces of radioactive gas in the air near the site of last Monday's alleged nuclear test." So, here we have the most secretative country in the world, where we're repeatedly told that no-one can get inside the country to find out what's going on, yet we can sample the air near the bomb site!

I'm not trying to argue that the event didn't occur - in fact, I'd be surprised if it didn't - but I worry at the "call to arms" that the media has jumped on a la "WMD in Iraq" or "Children Overboard". No questioning, no doubts, all certainty. When will we learn from our mistakes?