{"id":78691,"date":"2023-03-31T15:37:45","date_gmt":"2023-03-31T04:37:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=78691"},"modified":"2023-03-31T17:37:43","modified_gmt":"2023-03-31T06:37:43","slug":"how-saddam-hussein-was-caught-in-his-own-trap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/how-saddam-hussein-was-caught-in-his-own-trap\/","title":{"rendered":"How Saddam Hussein was caught in his own trap"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Former defence minister Robert Hill says it\u2019s clear now that, in the lead-up to the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, Saddam Hussein had complied with UN Security Council orders to dispose of his chemical and biological weapons.<\/p>\n

But the Iraqi dictator did not want to signal to Iraqis that he\u2019d weakened and given in to pressure from the UN, says Hill who was defence minister in the Howard government from 2001 to 2006.<\/p>\n

In a\u00a0video interview<\/a> as part of ASPI\u2019s \u2018<\/em>Lessons in leadership\u2019 series, Hill tells former ASPI executive director Peter Jennings that Saddam ran his country through an environment of fear. \u2018If you look as if you\u2019re being pushed around, it\u2019s not good for your future,\u2019 says Hill. \u2018He deceived his own people on that, and he deceived the global community on that. But you can\u2019t make decisions with the benefit of hindsight. I believe the decision we made at the time was the right decision, the right circumstances on the information that we had.\u2019<\/p>\n

Hill became defence minister after six years as environment minister. \u2018I thought that portfolio might benefit from having someone else for a while. You can get a bit too familiar over time.\u2019 He\u2019d spent four years as shadow foreign minister and a year as shadow defence minister and he\u2019d long dealt with international relations from security and other perspectives. \u2018It was familiar territory to me, it was an area in which I had an interest, it was an area in which I thought from my background I might have something to offer,\u2019 Hill says.<\/p>\n

He says he found the defence portfolio an interesting contrast to environment, which had been a different challenge. New environmental laws were being developed and he was expected to take the lead at a time when the bureaucracy was still uncertain of its role. New cultures were being developed and the minister was integral to the growth of the environment portfolio itself. This was a new portfolio all over the world. \u2018There hadn\u2019t been a history of environment portfolios. The issues were growing issues and therefore countries were starting to find ways to adapt.\u2019<\/p>\n

The defence establishment was confident in itself, very well established historically and with a well-settled doctrine and clear chains of command, Hill says. \u2018So, it\u2019s a different role entirely for the minister. You almost slot into the way it\u2019s always been done.\u2019 He knew he\u2019d be wrestling with defence acquisition issues because they had always been difficult. \u2018And I knew that I\u2019d be facing up to some pretty serious operational issues, because we had already committed to Afghanistan,\u2019 he says.<\/p>\n

Hill says he was also familiar with the business of defence. \u2018I\u2019d visited so many of the bases, met a lot of the senior people over the years. I\u2019d been, obviously, in the cabinet already for six years. I was in the leadership group, all the major security decisions that had been made in the previous six years, I\u2019d been party to, some of them directly engaged in those decisions, so it wasn\u2019t as if I was getting into unfamiliar territory.\u2019<\/p>\n

He became defence minister about a month after al-Qaeda\u2019s 11 September 2001 attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. Within days of the attack, Prime Minister John Howard had invoked the ANZUS Treaty and Australia was on the pathway to war. Hill was still environment minister and was at meetings in Kakadu National Park. \u2018It was surreal that I was in this blissful environment and these terrible things were happening, but like everyone else, I think I got drawn to the television in this sense of disbelief.\u2019<\/p>\n

By the time he shifted to defence, the government had made the decision to participate in the Afghanistan invasion. That was not controversial as the UN Security Council had backed it.<\/p>\n

He went to Western Australia and addressed special forces soldiers before they left. \u2018I had a view that when we had made a decision to deploy them, they had a right to hear from me the basis for that, what was our rationale, what we as a government were expecting of them. And they seemed to appreciate it, and I did that a number of times over the years and it seemed to be well received.\u2019<\/p>\n

Hill made a practice of meeting the soldiers and their families when they returned, and the families seemed to appreciate that, he says.<\/p>\n

He says that when the 2003 invasion of Iraq was launched, allies, including Australia, followed the US because they believed Saddam Hussein had chemical and biological weapons.<\/p>\n

Hill recalls that soon after the invasion of Iraq he met a senior American civilian there. The American told him his instructions were to get the US out of the country after 60 days. \u2018It all changed in the 60 days,\u2019 he says. \u2018Under international law, once a country occupies another it is responsible for its peace and security and all of those things, so you are locked in.\u2019<\/p>\n

He had no misgivings in the early stages of Australia\u2019s military involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq. \u2018I sometimes wonder whether we stayed too long in either or both\u2014\u201cwe\u201d being the coalition. But it\u2019s very hard to withdraw; it\u2019s just hard to turn your back on violence and suffering. You take out the strongman and you remove one threat, but it tends to get, we\u2019ve found, replaced by others.\u2019<\/p>\n

He found Australian Defence Force commanders very easy people to deal with, who knew what they\u2019re about and what they needed to do. \u2018And if you respect that and show you respect it, they will be very loyal to you and the interests that you are representing.\u2019<\/p>\n

He decided early on never to interfere in the military chain of command. \u2018I\u2019ve sometimes seen it happen, that if there\u2019s been a problem, there\u2019s been a temptation of the political side to blame an individual lower down in the chain of command. I always believed that would be hugely disruptive.\u2019<\/p>\n

It was for someone higher in the military chain to deal with that problem. If that didn\u2019t occur, then the minister needed to deal with someone higher up in the chain of command. \u2018So, as long as you respect those different cultures, then I think it can be made to work effectively.\u2019<\/p>\n

Hill says he was criticised from time to time for micromanaging and being a little too hands-on. He disagrees with that. \u2018In politics it tends to be the small things that cause you the biggest headaches and therefore I tended to want to watch out for those small things.\u2019<\/p>\n

Asked what advice he\u2019d have for an incoming defence minister, Hill says it\u2019s important to remember that the minister and the government are the political layer. \u2018We are the interface between the forces and the people. We have a responsibility of governance. If we try to do more than that, we will end up in trouble.\u2019<\/p>\n

In the interview, Hill discusses military operations in East Timor and Solomon Islands, and on his efforts to make the Defence Department\u2019s procurement processes more efficient.<\/p>\n

He says ministers must accept that defence is a complex business with many strong personalities \u2018pushing and pulling each other\u2019. It\u2019s important for the minister to display calm and resolve and not to get drawn into such issues, he says. \u2018Respect the forces, respect the challenge of their profession and make sure they understand that you respect it.\u2019<\/p>\n

ASPI\u2019s \u2018Lessons in Leadership\u2019 series is produced with the support of Lockheed Martin Australia.<\/em><\/p>\n