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Here Kitty! This cat's a monster July 5, 2007 - 2:43PM The US Navy aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk has arrived in Sydney Harbour. The super carrier, accompanied by four other US navy ships, berthed at the Garden Island naval base and will remain in Sydney until Tuesday. Prime Minister John Howard addressed about 300 sailors on board the carrier, offering them a warm welcome to Sydney. Standing in front of a large US navy flag, The Navy Jack, Mr Howard spoke of the US navy's long association with Sydney. "Australians and Americans have fought together in defence of freedom and against threats to our way of life on many occasions,'' he told the sailors. "We continued to do it today and work together around the world defending our way of life and fighting terrorism.'' Directly after the speech, Mr Howard spoke with a number of the sailors who surrounded him and responded to his speech with an enthusiastic round of applause. The US ships, part of the joint Australian-US military exercise Talisman Sabre in Queensland, attracted the attention of anti-war protesters. Acting NSW Premier John Watkins extended a warm welcome to the Kitty Hawk's 5000 "cashed-up" sailors. "We hope they have a great stay while they are here until next Tuesday," Mr Watkins told reporters. The Kitty Hawk is no stranger to Sydney, having berthed here before in 2005 and 2001. Its familiarity has done little to dampen the enthusiasm for its arrival with talkback radio callers charting its course into the harbour. Sydneysiders wanting to catch a glimpse of the mighty craft have been urged to catch public transport to the harbour. Sydney's CBD traffic was chaotic when thousands of people flocked into the city to see the Queen Elizabeth 2 and Queen Mary 2 as they docked in Sydney in February. In a bid to avoid a repeat of those scenes, extensive clearway and no-parking provisions have been put in place around the Woolloomooloo area. The Stop the War Coalition is using the visit of the Kitty Hawk to stage protests at Woolloomooloo Bay to demand an end to Australia-US military ties and the withdrawal of all troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. Mr Watkins said the visit of the Kitty Hawk came on a bumper weekend for Sydney, with the Live Earth concert being held in Moore Park as well as a rugby union Test, an AFL match and the World Youth Day Cross and Icon travelling through the CBD. AAP From: http://www.smh.com.au/news/natio ... /1183351338991.html [ 本帖最后由 jasonnewman 于 2007-7-5 15:23 编辑 ] |
