Unhelpful assumptions.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)

SIR: Public discussion of our foreign policy might be more useful, because relevant to the real world in which national governments consider their decisions, if three common assumptions were discarded.

One is the left-wing version of aping the Americans. Most of my American friends oppose or have serious reservations about their President's decision to invade Iraq and the way it has been done. I don't disagree with most of them. But it doesn't follow that Mr Howard's careful decision to make a modest contribution to the enterprise was not, on balance, the best one to make in Australia's interests.

Australia could have postured to less than no advantage, but we could not have stopped America going to war. We area handful of people occupying a continent full of raw materials. When you don't belong to anyone's team or club it is not sensible to be complacent about the possibility that you might be vulnerable. The Anglo-American club is our only option. If we were part of North America, non-playing membership would be an option, but getting away with our junior's concessional subscription, as we have in Iraq, might well be regarded as quite an achievement by our government.

Vietnam provided an analogy. America suffered almost ten times as many casualties as Australia in proportion to population, and a great deal of damage at home. Australians aped the American moratorium marches, but Australians could sensibly have shared the enthusiasm of nearly every East and South-East Asian country ...