Australia will fight by its own rules:
The Defence Minister, Robert Hill, yesterday tried to clear up confusion over which United States military commands Australian forces would and would not obey in the war against Iraq.
As the leader of the coalition attack, the US will direct any Australian military action. But Australian armed forces are subject to more stringent rules of engagement than those of the US, as Canberra is a party to more international treaties.
Australian forces are not allowed to attack civilians, civilian targets, hospitals, places of worship, dams or nuclear power stations. Unlike US forces, they are banned from using landmines or cluster bombs.
Salam, from Baghdad:
Posted by sniffles at March 19, 2003 09:18 AM[...] Wherever you go you see closed shops and it is not just doors-locked closed but sheet-metal-welded-on-the-front closed, windows-removed-and-built-with-bricks closed, doors were being welded shut. There were trucks loaded with all sort of stuff being taken from the shops to wherever their owner had a secure place. Houses which are still being built are having huge walls erected in front of them with no doors, to make sure they don't get used as barracks I guess. Driving thru Mansur, Harthiya or Arrasat is pretty depressing. Still me, Raed and G. went out to have our last lunch together. The radio plays war songs from the 80's non-stop. We know them all by heart. Driving thru Baghdad now singing along to songs saying things like "we will be with you till the day we die Saddam" was suddenly a bit too heavy, no one gave that line too much thought but somehow these days it is sounds sinister. Since last night one of the most played old "patriotic" songs is the song of the youth "al-fituuwa", it is the code that all fidayeen should join their assigned units. And it is still being played.