29 September 1999
Subject: ABC report; Australia’s request for US ground troops
E&OE……………………………………………………………………………………….
JOURNALIST:
Did you ask President Clinton to commit ground troops?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes. The report on the ABC tonight is a disgrace. To claim that I have admitted that I didn't ask for troops is a disgrace. I have made no such admission. I said in the parliament this afternoon as you would heard, that in discussions between both the Defence Secretary and the President and Mr Moore and myself on Australia’s part, an American troop contribution was canvassed. I mean, why else would the President say to me amongst other things that it was difficult because they had 14,000 ground troops in Kosovo. He pointed out to me that even though he had very strong support from members in Congress for an American commitment in East Timor, even the strongest of them were opposed to the committing of combat troops.
Now, a President hardly says that to you if you haven’t asked it from him, and they are the sort of things that if there had been any serious attempt to check this allegation before it was made, I could have pointed out to Mr Middleton.
JOURNALIST:
So is Secretary Cohen wrong in suggesting that Australia didn’t… ?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, what Secretary Cohen has said, as I said in the Parliament today was that the formal request didn’t mention combat troops because they had told us beforehand they wouldn’t provide any. And that’s what he was dealing with and that has always been the situation with these things. What you do is, you have a whole lot of discussions in advance and you then find out what they’ll give you and then you formally request what you know you will get. You never formally request – formally request – what you know you are not going to get, and it was made very clear to us in advance, very clear to us, that although they’d provide other assets, they wouldn’t provide any combat troops.
JOURNALIST:
Could that request be revisited or is it entirely off the table?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, in a sense we’ve moved on because the people on the ground are doing a magnificent job, but what I am critical of tonight is a completely inaccurate dishonest report on the ABC. I mean, the ABC tonight has said that I had admitted not seeking troops from the Americans. Now that is wrong. To start with I haven’t admitted that, and secondly, I did seek it, but they made it plain that they would provide other assets.
Thank you.