The claim made on ABC television tonight by political correspondent, Jim Middleton, that "John Howard has admitted he never asked President Clinton to commit American combat troops to the multinational force in East Timor" is wrong. I totally repudiate it. I have made no such admission.
In discussions between myself and President Clinton, it was made very clear to the latter that Australia wanted American troops. The same message was conveyed by the Defence Minister, Mr Moore, when he spoke to his American counterpart.
The American response was that, although their country would provide other valuable military assets, for a combination of reasons the provision of combat troops posed a difficulty.
As I said in the House of Representatives today, the formal request to the Americans for military assistance did not mention combat troops as it was pointless to formally request the contribution of something which we had previously been told would not be forthcoming.
However to assert from this, as Mr Middleton did, that I had not sought a contribution of American combat forces from President Clinton was a total distortion of my position.
I am astonished that the ABC could have allowed such a report to go to air, particularly as I explicitly told Parliament this afternoon that both the Defence Minister and I had canvassed with the Americans an American troop contribution.