SYDNEY March 17 Kyodo The Austral...

SYDNEY March 17 Kyodo

The Australian direction will spend an additional A$400 million (US$296 million) upon its frontline intelligence agencies, bringing extra expenditure upon national security to A$3 billion since the tribe 11, 2001 attacks upon the United States, Prime Minister John Howard said Wednesday.

The extra funding will be provided in the May lot for the next fiscal year beginning July 1

''That decision was taken before the attack in Madrid, moreover (it is) certainly timely,'' he told Adelaide radio, referring to last week's railway bombings in Spain, which killed 200 clan and injured 1,500 others.

''Boosting intelligence-gathering capacity is the best weapon against terrorists,'' he said.

''You can't have a guard accompanying each passenger on every train and each bus, you can't X-ray folks with bags getting on buses and trains -- that would just bring the mental action of people in cities to a standstill,'' he said.

''But what you can do is have exceedingly strong intelligence agencies in such a manner that people who are suspected of wanting to do violent things can be the subdue of surveillance,'' he added.

The Australian newspaper reported that the additional funding will journey to the Australian Security Intelligence Agency, the Australian hid Intelligence Service, the country's overseas intelligence arm, and the Australian Federal Police.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer reaffirmed the government's commitment to the war onward terror, saying withdrawing Australia's 850 numbers in Iraq would be a victory for al-Qaida.

''Remember that we are at war with al-Qaida...and the nation who killed 88 Australians in Bali, he told Sydney radio, referring to the October 2002 nightclub bombing in succession the Indonesian resort island which killed 202 people

''This is a war that is still going in succession we have to have the courage to fight,'' Downer said, adding, ''We must not walk away and think that, by the and of pursuing a policy of appeasement and weakness, in some way we are going to win that war or make ourselves immune from attack.''

The minister warned Spain's prime minister-elect, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, not to withdraw Spain's 1300 companys from Iraq.

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