Australians soldiers under stricter rules of war than U.S. forces
(AUSTRALIA, USA, IRAQ) CANBERRA, Australia, 20 mar 03 (AP)
By Peter O'Connor

Australian troops in Iraq will operate under stricter rules of engagement than their U.S. comrades and will avoid use of land mines and cluster bombs, a defense spokesman said Friday.

But the differences should not affect cooperation between the coalition partners, said spokesman Brig. Mike Hannan.

When Australia's Cabinet agreed at an emergency meeting Tuesday to commit 2,000 military personnel deployed in the Middle East to the U.S.-led war against Iraq, it also signed off on rules governing how Australian forces would wage war.

Based on international law, the rules cover everything from the targets they select to the weapons they use.

Hannan said Australia has ratified some international treaties which the United States has not, such as the Ottawa Convention forbidding the use of anti-personnel land mines and also the first protocol of the Geneva Conventions, which lays out international rules for waging war.

Hannan said that although Washington has not ratified the first protocol it applies the protocol in its actions. "So, in practice on the ground there are very few differences or conflicts caused," he said.He said the main differences were that Australian troops would not lay land mines or be involved in operations using cluster bombs.

On the "odd occasions" where conflicts arise, the Australian commander in the Gulf would determine what his forces can or cannot do, Hannan said.

The United States used cluster bombs in its anti-terror war in Afghanistan (news - web sites). Each cluster bomb contains up to 200 bomblets, which sometimes fail to explode and, like anti-personnel mines, can threaten civilians, particularly children, long after conflict ends.

Earlier this week, Defense Minister Robert Hill told Parliament Australia's rules of engagement were more "restricted" than America's, meaning that Australian forces had to be "more restrained in our targeting than the United States."

Alfred Boll, a specialist in military law at the Australian National University, said differing rules of engagement could make cooperation in the field more difficult, but it was unlikely to be a major impediment.

"It's less a legal issue than a practical issue, it involves greater coordination and planning than anything else," he said.

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