Anti-war vets protest at Clinton meeting

8 Nov 2010, 11:41 am   -   Source: AAP
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Australian veterans against the Afghanistan war have protest against the Australia-US defence alliance talks being held in Melbourne.

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A group of Australian veterans against the war in Afghanistan have protested against the Australia United States Ministerial (AUSMIN) talks being held in Melbourne on Monday.

Stand Fast, a national association of veterans against the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, will protest against the talks being held between US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd and Australian Defence Minister Stephen Smith.

While the ministers from the two countries discuss defence alliance issues at Government House, Stand Fast members will protest a few hundred metres away outside Victoria Barracks.

Stand Fast spokesman Hamish Chitts said as well as wanting troops out of Afghanistan, Stand Fast was opposed to Australia being part of an alliance with the US and was protesting against the US being allowed to use Australian military bases.

"It's been foreshadowed they're going to be doing this deal that bases are made available to the US," Mr Chitts told AAP.

"So we're protesting against that because for one we don't think the Australian military should be as closely integrated into the US military as it currently is and it seems to be heading to be more so."

He said the US kept putting Australia into "unwinnable wars that are illegal by international law" and motivated by greed.

The protest, which started at midday (AEDT), is the sixth Stand Fast has held at army locations across Australia in recent months.

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