Carnley regrets Australia's "high profile support" for unilateral U.S. attack on Iraq

SYDNEY, October 19 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The head of Australia's Anglican Church sparked official anger Saturday, October 19, after suggesting the government's staunch support for U.S. foreign policy had prompted the deadly bombing of Australians in Bali.

Addressing the annual synod of the Anglican Diocese in the western city of Perth late Friday October 18, Archbishop Peter Carnley said it was only a matter of time before Australian lives were lost due to the government's policy, said Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"Given the bombing of Afghanistan and the dispersal in disarray of al-Qaeda and Taliban forces, and Australia's high profile support of President George Bush's stance in relation to a possible war on Iraq, it was surely only a matter of time before Australian lives were sacrificed in some form of retaliatory action," Carnley said.

"Many regret that initially Australia gave such high profile support for the U.S.A. in relation to threatened unilateral military action against Iraq," he stressed.

"Australian Churches have repeatedly urged diplomatic approaches to the resumption of arms inspections in Iraq," Carnley recalled.

He said the car bombing which targeted a Bali nightclub, known as a hangout for young Australian tourists, "suggests that this terrorist attack was aimed both at Australia, as one of the allies of the United States of America and, at the same time, at what is seen by militant Muslims to be the decadence of western culture."

Carnley joined other Church and community leaders in August in signing an open letter to the government urging it not to back any unilateral U.S. military action against Iraq.

He said it was crucial to be even-handed in foreign affairs and in dealing with the root causes of terrorism.

"There will be no peace in the Middle East without justice for the poor and marginalized and dispossessed," he said.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer derided Carnley for his views on Saturday, saying such suggestions about the motives of the attackers were meaningless in the absence of evidence about who was behind the bombing.

"If Archbishop Carnley has further information for us, we'd obviously very much appreciate it," he told Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio.

Downer alleged that the prime suspects in the bombing, which on Saturday October 12, killed some 180 people, more than 100 of them believed to be Australian, were members of the Al-Qaeda network working with Indonesia Islamic groups like Jemaah Islamiah.

In the wake of the bombing, Australian Prime Minister John Howard said there were strong suspicions that al-Qaeda was behind the attack, put stressed there was no solid evidence substantiating the accusation. 

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