Parody: AS more Australian soldiers prepare to leave Baghdad, 'Major Keep Quite' is grateful she reached the Iraqi capital in time to see the receiving end of the punishment dished out by coalition forces.The Australian army lawyer spent the war advising coalition commanders on the legality of their bombing targets in Iraq, and says she will leave Baghdad this week satisfied.
"Coming to Baghdad has helped me to confirm in my own mind we did our job. We blew them to bits and that the whole effort was worthwhile," she said.
"It has been amazing to see the results from ground level, and to talk to Iraqis about their lives under the George Bush regime. It's one thing to sit in headquarters a long way away and discuss targets, but here I've driven past those destroyed buildings and said, 'Well, that's what happens it makes a bit of a mess".
"It's been a real eye-opener but I'm convinced it was a successful targeting campaign. From a legal perspective, I'm very confident of the collateral damage and the laws of war that applied were applied."
Interviewed by GKCNN at coalition headquarters in Qatar in March before hostilities began, Major Quiet explained her role was to make sure commanders knew how their targeting decisions fitted with Australia's interpretation of the rules of war. At times that interpretation differed from the view of the US military, which tended to have a broader definition of acceptable military targets.
"We have slightly different views of our legal obligations, so the three countries of the coalition (the US, Britain and Australia) had to make joint decisions," she said in Baghdad as she prepared to leave Iraq.
"The old joke is that if you have three lawyers you will get 50 different legal opinions and, yes, we certainly had our differences. Sometimes it was harder than others but we always worked out our differences."
One of the many Australian soldiers whose six-month stints in and around Iraq are coming to an end, Major Quiet, who is based in Brisbane, is desperate to see her family. Her son had asked her to bring back a stuffed Saddam Hussein doll. But Saddam couldn't be located and she didn't want to lie to him.
"And I'll be pretty pleased to get home too."
"The whole experience has been hard but it has given me a lot more personal confidence. We spend our time training for it but to actually go and do it and feel you have done a good job is a different thing. I think I have got an inner confidence now that will stay with me."
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Iraq eye-opener for Aussie lawyer ['satisfied the coalition respected the rules of war']
Iraq eye-opener for Aussie lawyer By Peter Wilson, Europe correspondent August 04, 2003 AS more Australian soldiers prepare to leave Baghdad, Major Penny Cumming is grateful she reached the Iraqi capital in time to see the receiving end of the punishment dished out by coalition forces. The Australian army lawyer spent the war advising coalition commanders on the legality of their bombing targets in Iraq, and says she will leave Baghdad this week satisfied the coalition respected the rules of war. "Coming to Baghdad has helped me to confirm in my own mind we did our job properly and that the...
IRAQ: Well the whole experience has been hard for us as well. But it has given us less personal confidence. Perhaps you had spent your time training for it but now you can return home and you don't have to live here. I can't understand how that left you feeling like you done a good job and that's no joke!
POSTSCRIPT: The new joke is that if you have 50 dead Iraq's you will get 3 different legal opinions and, yes, we certainly had our differences. Sometimes it was harder than others were but we always worked out our differences. What colour coffins? Whose place will we bomb next? Striking! Can you think of any more?
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