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Aussies
second to none in Gulf
Dramatic drop in oil smuggling
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CAPT
Peter Sinclair, one of five MIF tactical commanders, says
Australian ships in the MIF are “at the pinnacle”.
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An RAN
officer serving as one of five Multinational Interception Force
task group tactical commanders is in a prime position to observe
the successes of Australia’s contribution to anti-smuggling
efforts by enforcing UN sanctions against Iraq in the Persian Gulf.
CAPT Peter Sinclair, head of Australia’s Submarine Force Element
Group (FEG) judges Australia’s efforts as second to none.
“The Australian ships have been at the pinnacle in enforcing
UN sanctions and no doubt without them its success would not have
been as it is,” he said.
The amount of oil that is now produced in Iraqi oil terminals and
shipped out in illegal vessels is down dramatically.
“That is a very good indicator that the blockade is working
- that the smugglers are willing to give up the game because it’s
not economically worth their while any more to smuggle oil from
Iraq,” he said.
Working in a coalition headquarters environment CAPT Sinclair can
gauge the degree to which the RAN’s contributions are appreciated
by the wider naval community.
“There is no doubt whatsoever that we are valued and I think
even more the fact that we have achieved so much in such a short
time has impressed the other coalition countries, in particular
the United States,” he said.
The RAN vessels have been able to integrate very quickly with other
elements of the coalition because of similarities in equipment and
procedures.
“It’s almost a seamless integration. Certainly all of
the weapons systems and the communications systems are very similar.
“The RAN works very closely with coalition partners, particularly
the United States and also with the United Kingdom and Canada,”
he said.
However some smugglers have demonstrated a determination to break
the blockade and it takes coalition teamwork to outsmart them.
“We have to combat the smugglers by being more clever than
them and we do that by ensuring that we’re one step ahead of
them in being able to predict how their tactics are going to change
and where they’re going to deploy to try and get around the
blockade.”
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