Fed: New ambassador says he'll speak out to defend US

AAP General News (Australia)
08-28-2006
Fed: New ambassador says he'll speak out to defend US

By Maria Hawthorne, Chief Political Correspondent

CANBERRA, Aug 28 AAP - New US Ambassador Robert McCallum looks set to follow in the
footsteps of his outspoken predecessor, using his first media appearance to mount a staunch
defence of the treatment of David Hicks and of the war in Iraq.

Mr McCallum has finally replaced Tom Schieffer, a close friend of US President George
W Bush who left Australia for Tokyo 18 months ago.

Mr Schieffer raised hackles before the 2004 election when he criticised then-Labor
leader Mark Latham's pledge to bring Australian troops home by Christmas.

But Mr McCallum said Mr Schieffer had done nothing wrong.

"I don't necessarily accept that Ambassador Schieffer was in any way trying to interfere
with the internal politics of the Commonwealth of Australia, and it is not my purpose
or my goal to do that in any matter," he told reporters over morning tea.

Speaking with a gentle Southern drawl, he said: "What I view is my role is that I am
an advocate for the interests of the United States.

"So that when I am asked a question, I will bring to it an advocate's zeal to express
the interests of the United States.

"So I look forward to doing that but not to the extent that I could be construed as
trying to interfere or influence with anything that has to do with the internal political
process within the Commonwealth of Australia."

Mr McCallum and Mr Bush have known each other since they were 19 years old and best
friends in college.

It took six months for Mr Bush to choose his old friend as Mr Schieffer's replacement
and then almost a year for the US Congress to endorse his posting.

Mr McCallum said Australians should not see the 18-month delay as any sign that the
US administration did not value the friendship between the two countries.

"There is a misperception that the relationship with Australia is taken for granted
somehow within the United States or the United States government," he said.

"Nothing could be further from the truth.

"So I want to stress not just here in Canberra and not just in other areas but throughout
the Australian continent the significance of the relationship in the view of the United
States that it has in Australia.

"There is no more significant ally and partner in the globe, in the world."

But when pressed if he meant that Australia was more important to the US than Britain,
Mr McCallum retreated slightly.

"There are a certain few nations with whom we have extraordinarily close relationships
and Australia is one of those few. Britain is certainly another," he said.

Mr McCallum, a lawyer, bristled at questions about whether the United States was complying
with international law by keeping David Hicks in Guantanamo Bay for more than four-and-a-half
years with no trial in sight.

"The rule of law, international established law, the law of war, allows the detention
of enemy combatants during the course of the hostilities. There is still a war on terror,"

Mr McCallum said.

And he said America remained committed to the war in Iraq as the only means to bring
democracy to the region.

He says he has three priorities - to support, maintain and advance the close relationship
between Australia and the United States in military and intelligence matters; to further
the free trade agreement between the two countries; and a "public diplomacy" role to convince
Australians that the US really does love them.

He plans while in Australia to put the views of US pharmaceutical companies which want
greater access to Australian markets under the free trade agreement.

He will spend the next five weeks touring Australia, with visits to Sydney, Perth,
Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane and Cairns planned.

AAP mfh/shh/sp/de

KEYWORD: US AUST NIGHTLEAD (PIX AVAILABLE)

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