SYDNEY, September 25 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The Australian government came under fire Wednesday, September 25, for dismissing its top defense official without explanation as it prepares for the possibility of war with Iraq.

Defense department secretary Allan Hawke, sacked Tuesday, September 24, after three years in the job, will be replaced by Australia's current ambassador to Indonesia, Ric Smith, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

Meanwhile, a former head of Australia's special forces warned that the country's military could face a disaster because it is over-stretched and under-resourced.

Brigadier Jim Wallace, a former Special Air Services (SAS) commander, said putting troops into a war in Iraq could be dangerous because of problems within the Australian services.

He said the problems were affecting day-to-day military operations to the point that troops were not properly trained and they did not have access to the right resources.

Hawke's dismissal is Prime Minister John Howard's second sacking of a defense department chief at a crucial time.

In August 1999 Paul Barratt was sacked just as Australia prepared to send troops to halt bloodshed in East Timor.

The latest dismissal sparked immediate criticism that it could once again destabilize the department at a critical moment.

"This is a government that has seen two heads of defense sacked, one when we were just about to go into Timor and the other when we're considering what action [to take] in relation to Iraq," said Simon Crean, head of the main opposition Labor Party.

The government gave no reason for its decision, announced when Howard was in Britain discussing moves towards possible military strikes against Iraq with British leaders.

But media reports said the government felt Hawke had not made sufficient progress on reforms designed to reduce defense department bureaucracy and put more resources into front-line fighting forces.

Howard has been one of the staunchest backers of U.S. President George W. Bush's hard line on Iraq and is expected to send Australian troops to join any U.S.-led strikes against Iraq.

Hawke will officially "retire" next month to take up a diplomatic appointment next year. His departure is the second in defense since retiring military chief Admiral Chris Barrie was replaced by current commander General Peter Cosgrove in July.

But Crean said the dismissals of Barratt then Hawke showed the government and its Defense Minister Robert Hill were using departmental heads as scapegoats for their failure adequately to fund the military.

"The government has to take responsibility, it can't keep passing the buck," Crean said.

Brigadier Wallace said soldiers were currently performing well overseas in spite of the problems within the defense department.

Hawke had been in an impossible position because of the management arrangements within the department, he said.

"It just worries me that the only thing we've got left to do is to fail in conflict, or fail in warfare and I just hope we don't do that," he told Australian Broadcasting Corporation television.

"Unless we fix this I can see it happening."

Brigadier Wallace said troops were doing their best against impossible odds.

"We've left them in a position that they're not supported by strategic guidance, they're committed to something without the necessary training, without the necessary equipment, and, yes, these fellows pull it off, but we can't keep asking them to do it," he said.

Defense Minister Hill said he agreed with some of Brigadier Wallace's concerns, and he was trying to improve the department's operation.

"We're stretching the troops, stretching the equipment, in the end something has got to give," he said.