FED: Democrats force vote to rule out first-strikes on Iraq

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FED: Democrats force vote to rule out first-strikes on Iraq

SYDNEY, Aug 14 AAP - The Australian Democrats will pressure major political partiesin the senate next week to rule out first-strike military action against Iraq, party leaderNatasha Stott Despoja said today.

Senator Stott Despoja said she wanted to force the major political parties to statetheir position amid talk of a United States-led war on the Gulf nation.

"Our motion opposing first strikes against Iraq will actually test where all politicalparties stand on this," Senator Stott Despoja told journalists in Sydney.

"We believe that the government has backtracked somewhat in recent days in relationto its gung-ho rhetoric on military action in Iraq.

"But we call on them to support their rhetoric of the last 24 hours with a vote inthe Senate on Monday which will rule out first-strike action."

Senator Stott Despoja said Australia needed to hear America's case for war againstIraq but warned a recent SBS poll showed 50 per cent of Australians didn't want theirtroops involved in another Middle East war with Saddam Hussein.

"We have a basic belief that any deployment of troops must be ratified by the parliament,"

she said.

The government should tone down its tough talk for the sake of Australia's wheat farmers,who would suffer if Iraq cancelled more wheat sales, she said.

"I think the wheat council has operated in good faith, they've got understandable concernsgiven that we've already seen one shipment put on hold and potential billions of dollarsworth of exports put in jeopardy," she said.

AAP gmw/arb/mg/sb

KEYWORD: IRAQ AUST DEMOCRATS