FED:Aust at risk of losing military history

AAP General News (Australia)
04-11-2011
FED:Aust at risk of losing military history

By Susanna Dunkerley

CANBERRA, April 11 - The federal government should appoint an official war historian
to ensure an accurate account of Iraq and Afghanistan is recorded, a defence expert says.

Professor David Horner says the appointment must include access to cabinet documents
to allow a proper judgment on government decisions relating to the ongoing conflicts.

"In a theatre of operations where information is held electronically, it will be extremely
difficult ... to piece together what happened," the leading war historian warned.

"It is not sufficient merely to stash away piles of records, collected haphazardly,
in the pious hope that one day an historian might be appointed."

Prof Horner made the remarks during the launch of his latest work - The Official History
of Australian peacekeeping, Humanitarian and Post-Cold War Operations.

He described recent parliamentary debate on Afghanistan as a "national disgrace" for
failing to inform the public, noting that two Victoria Crosses had been awarded without
context.

Prof Horner says although he was granted access to cabinet records by the former Howard
government in 2004 to research his book, it was a challenge to locate all the material
included.

There were "smash and grab raids" in government departments, and illegal copies of
commanders' diaries were used, he said.

And cabinet information on operations in East Timor, Afghanistan and Iraq remained off-limits.

He also criticised successive governments for not funding military history projects.

"(Governments) have been slow, and in some cases unwilling to fund basic research ...

yet they have been willing to devote many millions to memorials around the world."

Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd, who helped launch the book, said "international engagement,
military and diplomatic" history must be recorded.

"And the key thing to make sure is that records across agencies are properly kept,
and the history is properly written," he told journalists.

"It is a history for which we should be proud, but also one which should actually inspire
the next generation of Australians."

The government would consider any official submission for a military historian, he added.

The Official History of Australian Peacekeeping, Humanitarian and Post Cold-War Operations
documents the involvement of more than 30,000 peacekeepers over 60 years.

Prof Horner's volume looks at missions that took place between 1988 and 1991, including
in Namibia, Iran, Afghanistan, Western Sahara, the Persian Gulf, Kuwait and Iraq.

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KEYWORD: AFGHAN AUST HORNER (PIX AVAILABLE)

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