Wiki-JSF, contribution australienne

Wiki-JSF, contribution australienne

Le Sidney Morning Herald a obtenu un Wiki-cable (le 9 février 2011) sur les confidences de nouveau ministre de la défense d’alors (février 2008), le travailliste Joel Fitzgibbon, au secrétaire à la défense US Gates. En gros, Fitzgibbon assurait à son mentor US que le “réexamen” de l’achat du JSF par l’Australie que le nouveau gouvernement travailliste avait lancé n’était qu’une simple initiative de relations publiques, pour apaiser les foules, et pour sembler en accord avec les critiques que les travaillistes avaient émises contre le JSF lorsqu’ils étaient dans l’opposition. Autrement dit, le résultat serait conforme à la vertu américaniste.

Grâce à WikiLeak, on ne cesse de voir se confirmer, d’une manière routinière, que les pires soupçons sur leur compromission et leur corruption ne font que refléter leur manière d’être courante.

«The official review used by the federal Labor government to justify its commitment to the multibillion-dollar US Joint Strike Fighter project was little more than a public relations exercise, according to comments by the former defence minister Joel Fitzgibbon in secret talks with his American counterpart.

»Mr Fitzgibbon candidly told the US Defence Secretary, Robert Gates, in February 2008 that the Air Combat Capability Review of Australia's future air power he had announced a week earlier was driven by domestic politics and unlikely to produce any result other than acquisition of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter built by Lockheed Martin.

»According to US embassy cables obtained by WikiLeaks and provided exclusively to the Herald, Mr Fitzgibbon made the admissions at a morning coffee session during the annual Australia-US Ministerial Meeting (AUSMIN) in Canberra. […]

»In opposition, Labor had been critical of the Coalition's move to acquire the JSF and had urged that Australia seek the lifting of a US congressional export ban in order to acquire the more capable F-22 Raptor. The F-22 was once described by the Defence Force chief, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, as '“the most outstanding fighter plane ever built”.

»Labor repeatedly warned that likely time delays and cost blow-outs with the JSF could compromise capability with the result that Australia could “end up getting into trouble”. In January 2008, Mr Fitzgibbon reiterated Labor's intention to “pursue American politicians for access to the Raptor. We are well placed to talk to Democrats on the Hill about it, and I want it to be part of the mix.” But the following month, at AUSMIN, Mr Fitzgibbon was quick to assure the US government that such statements had been merely “political” and that Washington could be confident that the F-35 acquisition would proceed.

»The US record of the discussion, approved by Mr Gates, says Mr Fitzgibbon “expressed his opinion … that the review would likely not result in any decision other than to keep the JSF and continue with the Super Hornet purchase, explaining that the government felt it had to respond to Australian public concerns that the previous government had not based these decisions on capability requirements but rather on political expediency. The Defence Minister stated that ‘aircraft acquisition is now a topic of broad public discussion; every man in every hotel [bar] is talking about Super Hornets’ so the Labor government needs to do a public review,'” the discussion record said.»

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