Biggest live War Game ever to take place in prestine Australian Nature Reserves

Just got a mail from my old friend in Sydney. Not exactly good news.

It's about this: OZ/US Joint Military Exercise

This from his mail...

>> Subject: War games in Australian Wilderness, and a chance to be heard.>> The politicians will not resist the demands of the USA - they will allow this to happen, if we don't act.>> Now read what David Bradbury (the documentary film-maker) has to say.>>>

Dear Folks,
Next May/June will see Australia host the largest military exercises we've ever had in peacetime. Talisman Sabre 07.

Twelve thousand Australian soldiers and nearly l4,000 US troops and sailors will take place in bombarding our shores and fragile landscape, storming our beaches, gunning down 'terrorists' in the newly built urban guerilla warfare training centre, testing their latest laser guided missiles and 'smart' bombs in some of the most pristine wilderness I've ever seen on this planet - and in 30years of making films, I've seen a lot of this planet.

Idyllic Shoalwater Bay near Rockhampton will cop it all - live aerial bombing, ship to shore naval firings, underwater depth charges exploded in areas where turtles and dugong breed, nuclear subs using high level sonar frequency which zaps the hearing of sea life and mammals, nuclear aircraft carriers inside the so-called Great Barrier Reef marine national park (!), land based artillery firings blasting the hell out of areas where the most amazing biodiversity in Australia is to be found. (Shoalwater Bay covers 740,000 hectacres and is almost unique in our climatic landscape because it is a cross over point for tropical, sub tropical and temperate zones giving rise to an amazing variety of many species of flora and wildlife, birds,sea creatures etc).

These live munitions actions at Shoalwater Bay will run simultaneously with US bombing runs by Stealth, B1 and B52 bombers (just one B52 bomber carries 30 tonnes of bombs -needs three semi trailers to load it up with its bombload...) from Guam to drop their live payload from 5 kilometres high on Delamare bombing range near Katherine NT and live fire exercises involving many Abrams tanks rumbling across the landscape at Bradshaw tank range (surrounded by Bradshaw national park south of Darwin, target practising on country against the wishes of the senior Aboriginal elders, custodians of that country...).

These military exercises and their coordination in both states will be beamed live via satellite from tiny cameras on the tanks, bombers, landing craft, army commanders's lapels etc to the coordinating War Room at Newcastle where the US and Australian generals will call the shots of what is fired next. Son of Star Wars has arrived in Australia!

Please look at this website and subscribe to it to keep generally informed of what is happening, how to link up people in your local community if you want to help make this peace convergence a BIG event.

To be part of the actual organising email Dimity Hawkins from MAPW (Medical Association for the Prevention of War) [email protected]

It's horrendous. I love Oz above all. Was there just before the present creep came into power.

Aussie-folks, do something about this!

More than 40 hours this thread has been on, less than 40 views it had!

Where are you, Aussies!? You just gonna let this happen?

Well I know it takes a lot to stop it, but at least show up some resistance. Having grenades of DU detonating on The Great Barrier Reef, shelling the land of the ancient - is that what you want?

I know, of course you don't. Then do something!

Don't let the war-mongers spoil your beautiful country.

And the fact you're on ATS, isn't it you don't like them to run it all?

Show Johnnie and his gang some serious resistance. Get up!!!

Newsflash - it happens more than once a year in terms of military exercises being run in Shoalwater bay. Its a designated military training area and its so pristine because the military control the area. If it was left to no defence people to manage it'd be developed and destroyed in a second. Be thankful the military run the area and not local council.

Live rounds are kept to confined areas and the area is treated better than if it was anything else other than a national park.

Delamere is a designated range in wide open country on land again owned and managed by defence with no harm coming to locals.

If you want to get to the nitty gritty of Aboriginal custodianship of land, well technically it could be argued that they still own all of Australia. White europeans invaded and no treaty was ever signed handing it over. The only reason courts will not rule that way is due to land claims requiring aboriginal tribes being able to prove that they belong to teh area and still have links with it. Sometimes very hard to acheive.

khunmoon i live in Rockhampton & quite often go to byfield national park & i know that there are exercies every year that happen. At the moment there is the Singapore military do training there. Training happenes every year 1st the Singapore & the the US comes over & train. Its been happening for all the years i know of & i lived here all my life. I have been to Shoalwater bay & there are alot of restrictions put on the military on where they can go & do in the training area.

[edit on 26-11-2006 by Sth Hemisphere]