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THE PARTNERSHIP
GREG SHERIDAN
Greg Sheridan has been Foreign Editor at The Australian since 1992 and
has written about Australian foreign policy since entering journalism in
the late 1970s. He has written four books concerning Australia and Asia,
and the interaction with the US in Asia. In researching this book, Sheridan
interviewed a wide range of key insiders at the most senior levels of
government in Australia, the US and various Asian countries. He spent
two two-month periods as a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Strategic
and International Studies in Washington, DC. Sheridan is a contributing
editor to the US foreign policy journal, The National Interest, a visiting
Fellow at the Land Warfare Studies Centre in Canberra and a founding
member of the Australian American Leadership Dialogue.
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THE
PARTNERSHIP
THE INSIDE STORY OF THE US-AUSTRALIAN ALLIANCE
UNDER BUSH AND HOWARD
GREG SHERIDAN
NEW
SOUTH
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I wish to dedicate this book to my wife, Jasbir Kaur Sheridan,
the light of my life, and to our son, Ajay, and his wife, Inu, and
to our sons Lakhvinder and Jagdave. They are the tightest
alliance of all.
A New South book
Published by
University of New South Wales Press Ltd
University of New South Wales
Sydney NSW 2052
AUSTRALIA
www.unswpress.com.au
© Greg Sheridan 2006
First published 2006
This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose
of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the
Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without
written permission. Inquiries should be addressed to the publisher.
National Library of Australia
Cataloguing-in-Publication entry
Sheridan, Greg, 1956– .
The partnership: the inside story of the US-Australian
alliance under Bush and Howard.
Bibliography.
Includes index.
ISBN 0 86840 922 7.
1. Howard, John, 1939– - Military leadership. 2. Bush,
George W. (George Walker), 1946– - Military leadership. 3.
War on Terrorism, 2001– . 4. Australia - Foreign relations
- United States. 5. United States - Foreign relations -
Australia. I. Title.
327.94073
Text design Ruth Pidd
Cover design Di Quick
Front cover photograph Newspix/Brett Faulkner
Back cover photograph Author with Condoleeza Rice, March 2006
Print Griffin
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments 9
Introduction: why do we have an alliance
with the United States of America? 11
CHAPTER 1 Council of war: the White House, April 2003 18
CHAPTER 2 The bonds of terror 32
CHAPTER 3 Afghanistan: the first Aussie Bronze Star
since Vietnam 40
CHAPTER 4 Diggers to Iraq: Howard joins the Bush
family, Australia plays its red card 57
CHAPTER 5 Inside the belly of the beast: the Bush
foreign policy from the inside 74
CHAPTER 6 In the neocons’ lair: a season in Washington,
an encounter with Wolfowitz 86
CHAPTER 7 Sexing up the intelligence relationship:
Washington opens the golden door,
Canberra walks through 97
CHAPTER 8 Iraq: a general’s story 111
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CHAPTER 9 The Australian Defence Force: redesigned
for global power 128
CHAPTER 10 Howard’s love affair with the soldiers 141
CHAPTER 11 Defence cooperation with the United States 152
CHAPTER 12 Australia’s standing in America 161
CHAPTER 13 Indonesia: helping with leviathan,
or deputy sheriff? 172
CHAPTER 14 The Asian giants: China, agreeing to
disagree; Japan, Australia’s strategic partner 188
CHAPTER 15 Commander of the Gulf: a sailor’s story 206
CHAPTER 16 The United Nations: mangling
multilateralism together 214
CHAPTER 17 Howard and Bush as national security
heads of government 228
CHAPTER 18 Two case studies in the new partnership:
the tsunami and climate change 237
CHAPTER 19 The Americanisation of Australian politics 249
CHAPTER 20 The Free Trade Agreement: making dollars
and sense 261
CHAPTER 21 Lord of the skies: a fighter pilot’s story 271
CHAPTER 22 Labor and America: out-thought, out-muscled,
out-voted 279
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Greg Sheridan (7)
CHAPTER 23 Why does everyone hate America,
but love it too? 290
CHAPTER 24 Secrets of the alliance: Roosevelt,
Spender and Scanlan 302
CHAPTER 25 The new alliance 319
Index 324
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I wish to record my thanks to the editor-in-chief of The
Australian, Chris Mitchell, for the outstanding leadership he has
given in ensuring The Australian’s commitment to understanding
and reporting Australia’s place in the world at all levels, and to
the editor, Michael Stutchbury, for enduring leadership. I would
also like to thank my colleagues who are especially concerned
with national security issues, especially Paul Kelly, Dennis
Shanahan, Patrick Walters, and Cameron Stewart, and our
former colleague, John Kerin. The work environment at The
Australian is collaborative, collegial and full of the clash of
ideas, facts and opinions.
Similarly I am indebted to the section editors for whom I most
work – Tom Switzer, the opinion editor, with his encyclopedic
knowledge of American foreign policy, Patrick Lawnham on
Inquirer and Louise Evans on features. All three manage writers
with that mixture of direction and patience which is so helpful.
I am particularly grateful to Kurt Campbell of the Centre for
Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC, who invited
me to become a visiting fellow in his International Security
program, which in turn allowed me to conduct many of the US-
based interviews for this book. Kurt and Dr John Hamre, the head
of CSIS, ensure a supremely stimulating and productive work envi-
ronment at CSIS.
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I am also grateful to the Chief of the Australian Defence Force,
Air Marshall Angus Houston, who approved my requests to inter-
view numerous serving soldiers. Similarly I am grateful to General
Peter Leahy, Chief of Army, for making it possible for me to talk at
length to a number of SAS men. As well I would like to record
thanks to Lieutenant Colonel Malcolm McGregor who invited me
to take up a visiting fellowship at the Land Warfare Studies Centre
in Canberra.
I must also thank John Dauth for wise counsel and long friend-
ship. Appreciation is also due to John Elliot of UNSW Press who
took on an unusual project and managed it with forbearance, skill
and commitment.
Hundreds of people spoke to me for this book. Some are
named, most are not, because that is the nature of their position.
To everyone who did agree to talk to me, I am most grateful.
Naturally, no one mentioned above is in any way responsible for
the book’s opinions, judgments or mistakes.
Finally I must thank my family. An author’s family puts up with
a great deal in the gestation of a book, and my debt to my family,
especially my wife, Jasbir, is immeasurable.
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INTRODUCTION:
WHY DO WE HAVE AN ALLIANCE WITH
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA?
It was just before the war against Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq
was to kick off. A huge US force, a substantial British force, a small
but lethal Australian group and a tiny Polish contingent were to
join together to invade Iraq, topple Saddam Hussein and disarm
him of the weapons of mass destruction he was believed to possess.
Just before the invasion was to begin, the United States called a
high-level military planning meeting. It was convened in Qatar.
Even though attendance was restricted to the most senior officers –
one participant joked that you had to be a full colonel to carry
anyone’s briefcase – there were too many invitees for a conven-
tional meeting room. So the US hosts held the meeting on an
indoor basketball court. They had another reason for that choice,
which would become apparent as the meeting got under way. Then
Brigadier (later General) Maurie McNarn, the Australian
commander, was the senior Australian present among the couple of
hundred officers called together.
As the meeting was called to order, everyone was there in their
appointed place except for US General Tommy Franks, the trash-
talking Texan who had been at high school with Laura Bush and
was overall commander of the coalition force. Suddenly the lights
went out. On the big, bare wall of the court a flickering image
appeared, then took definite shape. Several minutes of the movie
Gladiator were shown. At the end of a segment of fierce fighting,
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Russell Crowe was left standing on a pile of bodies, knee-deep in
blood and gore. The film was stopped at that point. The United
States contingent, the vast majority of those present, began a
raucous chant: ‘Hoo Ha! Hoo Ha! Hoo Ha!’, a common enough
US military war cry.
The noise was deafening. McNarn leant across to a senior Brit
standing near him. ‘You know the moral of that film?’ McNarn
asked. ‘No’, said the Brit. ‘What’s that?’ Because of the noise of the
American chant, McNarn had to shout his reply. Just as he began
answering the Brit, the chant stopped and Tommy Franks walked
in. Across the silence, McNarn’s voice, accent unmistakably Down
Under, rang out: ‘If you want a bloody job well done, make sure
you put an Australian in charge!’ Franks looked daggers at
McNarn, who had inadvertently executed Operation Stolen
Thunder. The course of a true alliance never does run wholly
smooth.
The vast majority of Australian-US cooperation in Iraq was
highly productive and deep connections were made or reinforced
between the two militaries. But the incident above, trivial in every
way, reminds us that the Australian and American styles are quite
different, and the Australians are more than willing and able to
speak up for themselves. The idea, common enough, that in the
Australian-US alliance the Americans say what they want and the
Australians follow suit is absurdly mistaken. It is the thesis of this
book that in the Australian-US alliance, as in many vastly unequal
relationships, the power may lie with the bigger party, but the
initiative most often lies with the smaller party.
This book examines the Australian-US alliance during the
period when John Howard has been prime minister of Australia
and George W Bush has been president of the US, technically since
Bush’s inauguration in January 2001, but effectively since Bush’s
election in November 2000. It is not a book about Iraq, though of
course Iraq figures heavily in it. It is not a comprehensive treatment
of Australian foreign policy, some aspects of which are less influ-
enced by the alliance than others. As such there is a lot that is not
Description:Tells the inside story of the US–Australia alliance under John Howard and George W. Bush. It features explosive behind-the-scenes conversations between Australian and American leaders that reveal the secrets behind Australia and US military and political policy in the war on terror, and in Iraq an
