December 7, 2023
Prime Minister Julia Gillard has released the government’s National Security Strategy.
The Security Strategy document appears at the end of this page.
In a speech at the Australian National University, Gillard said the strategy “highlights the dramatic economic and strategic shift towards the Asia-Pacific region and provides a blueprint for national security over the next decade”.
President George W. Bush has announced that he will send an additional 20,000 combat troops to Iraq.
In a nationally televised address, Bush said the “surge” was designed “to help the Iraqis carry out their campaign to put down sectarian violence – and bring security to the people of Baghdad.”
Bush said five brigades of troops will be deployed to Baghdad “to help Iraqis clear and secure neighbourhoods, to help them protect the local population, and to help ensure that the Iraqi forces left behind are capable of providing the security that Baghdad needs.”