Opinion

Afghanistan:

another Vietnam?

Is Australia's participation in Afghanistan starting to look like another Vietnam war commitment on a smaller scale? Should we accelerate the pull out in line with Britain 's decision?

Defence Minister Stephen Smith on February 3 again rejected suggestions of an early departure of Australian troops from Afghanistan.

Mr Smith, in Brussels for a meeting of International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) defence ministers, said Oruzgan province would begin to transition to Afghan government security responsibility over the next 12-18 months.

He said the province was on track to make that transition by 2014, perhaps "a little earlier."

Britain is likely to begin withdrawing a substantial number of troops from Afghanistan by spring 2013 as the US begins to wind down its presence in the country. according to newspaper reports.

Prime Minister Gillard announced during her visit to Afghanistan on November 6 last that Australia was in the war "for the long haul."

But on November 8 Stephen Smith, after his leader's visit, signalled that Australian troops, including special forces, would continue to fight in Afghanistan after the 2014 handover.

What what does all this this mean?

Is Australia falling into the trap of Afghanistan becoming another Vietnam for Australia? Is our country's participation supported by the majority of the Australian people?

The questions are examined in the Essays by Bob Wurth section of this site listed above.

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Capturing Asia

An ABC cameraman's journey through momentus events and turbulent history:

"It is the lot of the TV cameraman that they are largely ignored. At best they are a small credit at the end of a story. Yet, as this genuinely engrossing book demonstrates, they lead interesting lives, meet fascinating people and record momentous events."

- Sydney Morning Herald.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE 7.30 VIDEO ON WILLIE PHUA

Singaporean Willie Phua is the subject of Bob Wurth's biography, Capturing Asia. See the 7.30 Report video on Willie Phua's amazing career covering Asia for the ABC, including some of his major assignments.

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Singapore now knows all about cameraman Willie Phua

 

 Correspodent John McBeth wrote in the Singapore Straits Times in 2008 that while Willie Phua was ‘virtually unknown to his own countrymen, the ever-cheerful Singaporean is a household name in a global fraternity of international correspondents.’

 How things have changed after the publication of Capturing Asia, which is the life story of Willie Phua.

Many thousands of Singaporeans now have come to know the Willie Phua life story through a series of events in Singapore during October-November 2010 and a key exhibition featuring his life which is ongoing. In the latest honour for Willie, the Australian High Commission in Singapore in November featured a photographic exhibition in its atrium foyer, similar to the exhibition staged in the foyer of the ABC for the launch of the Phua book, Capturing Asiain July.

The High Commission hosted Willie at a reception for visiting journalists from the region. The Asia-Pacific Journalism Centre, based in Australia, organised a tour of Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia for five Australian senior journalists,

Australian High Commissioner Doug Chester introduced Willie Phua (see picture) as a special guest. There was no shortage of takers. High Commission staff said “ Willie really was a hit of the evening - everyone wanted to hear his stories and have their photos taken with him.”

Willie Phua as an ABC cameraman on assignment during the Vietnam War.

 

Capturing AsiaCapturing Asia

An ABC cameraman's journey through momentous events and turbulent history.

Willie Phua and his extraordinary life story working side by side with ABC correspondents in Asia. Click on the cover to view the video. >> read more



1942 Australia’s greatest peril1942 Australia’s greatest peril

The imminent threat of a Japanese invasion of Australia in the first months of 1942. "This is a story that all Australians should read" - historian David Day.
>> read more

 

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Saving AustraliaSaving Australia

The story of the relationship between Prime Minister John Curtin and Japan’s wartime envoy to Australia, Tatsuo Kawai, and their secret peace efforts in 1941.

>> read more

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Justice in the PhillipinesJustice in the Philippines

The saga of Father Brian Gore and his colleagues charged with mass murder on lawless Negros Island during the Marcos era.

>> read more

Talking points:

Grand reunion and memories in Hong Kong.

 

Willie Phua, subject of the book Capturing Asia, and wife Cindy were guests of honour at a fabulous reunion and planning conference of friends and old ABC hands in Hong Kong in November last. The week long event included a dinner in the Richard Hughes Room of the Foreign Correspondents' Club.

 

RESEARCH INTO JOHN CURTIN'S war LEGACY

Research into the wartime legacy of Prime Minister John Curtin in Canberra, Tokyo and London was the feature of Bob Wurth's 2011 fellowship with the Australian Prime Ministers Centre, part of the Museum of Australian Democracy. Curtin is pictured above during the war in The Lodge, Canberra, on a Summer's weekend.

The research, which began in May in Japan and finished in July in the UK, will result in Wurth's fifth non-fiction book on the Asia Pacific region.

In Tokyo, he undertook research, aided by translator, Kyal Hill, at the National Institute for Defence Studies, the National Diet Library, the Diplomatic Record Office, the Japanese Overseas Migration Museum and additionally spoke with Japanese historical experts on Australian participation in the Pacific war.

In London, Wurth undertook extensive study at the National Archives, Kew, at the Imperial War Museum, the British Library, and at the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, King’s College. In Cambridge he stayed at Churchill College, where he undertook research at the Churchill Centre.

The book will be published by Pan Macmillan next year. Research began in Perth at the John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library and continued in Canberra at the Austrealian Prime Ministers Centre, the National Archives and the National Library.

Bob Wurth was among five recipients of 2011 national fellowships awarded by the Australian Prime Ministers Centre. The other four fellows are Paul Davey, Caryn Coatney (pictured below with Bob Wurth in Old Parliament House), plus fellows Sam Malloy and Lyndon Megarrity.

John Curtin and General Douglas MacArthur enter Parliament House, Canberra, in 1942. Photo: JCPML.