Naturally Australian environmentalists and pacifists didn’t see it that way. “Have we gone completely mad?” asked Green Party legislator Larissa Waters — who was conveniently on hand to comment because she was already protesting the military exercises on principle before anything actually went wrong. “Is this how we protect our World Heritage area now,” she fumed, “letting a foreign power drop bombs on it?”
It’s important to note that the Greens are the furthest left of Australia’s major parties. They are also part of Australia’s current coalition government with the dominant Labour Party. Elections are expected this fall and the Labour Party, under its new leader Kevin Rudd, is struggling to shed the unfavorable view many Australians had developed of Prime MInister Julia Gillard.
Since the US has been one of Australia’s closest allies since 1941, Waters’ saying “foreign power” seems a bit harsh, but the damage is done — to America’s image, if not actually to the Reef. US and Australian officials quickly went on the offensive to insist the bombs were no threat to life, human, animal, or coral. Both countries have been working hard in recent years to bolster their longstanding alliance — a pillar of the Obama administration’s “pivot” to the Pacific and keeping an eye on China, a strategy that includes a growing Marine Corps presence in Darwin, Australia. Ironically, the ongoing exercises are supposed to bring the two countries closer together.
[Updated Wednesday 11:15 am: An Australian website is reporting that the bombs will be retrieved from the water by a mine warfare ship, although it’s yet to be determined whether it’ll be a US Navy Avenger-class mine countermeasures ship or a Royal Australian Navy Huon-class coastal minehunter].
CORRECTED 4:45 pm Tuesday to remove the word “live” from the description of the two bombs, as they were unarmed, and to clarify that two inert practice bombs (which do not contain explosive) were also dropped.