He warned that Interfet was ready "to respond robustly" to any violence."This is not a time for idle threats or words," he said after touring the ruined streets of Dili. They are expected to secure the airport ahead of the arrival of the main contingent from Darwin, staging-post for the force, 420 miles to the south.The force is led by Australia's Major-General Peter Cosgrove, who paid a brief visit to Dili yesterday to secure guarantees of co-operation from Indonesian army commanders. Much of East Timor is devastated after militia groups opposed to independence embarked on an orgy of bloodshed, looting and burning.The first wave of troops, due to land in Dili at 6.30am (23.30 British Summer Time), is likely to comprise several hundred soldiers from Australia's Rapid Deployment Force, based in Townsville, north Queensland. They will be followed by 10 helicopters and a naval ship transporting supplies and armoured personnel carriers. The deployment of peacekeeping troops in the world's latest trouble spot follows a resolution passed by the United Nations Security Council last week giving Interfet, the International Force for East Timor, a robust mandate to restore law and order.The next few weeks will see the force swell to up to 8,000 troops from 20 countries. By late afternoon, 2,500 soldiers - most of them Australian, but also including 250 British Royal Gurkha Rifles - are expected to have arrived in Dili by air and sea. SHORTLY AFTER dawn today, a C-130 Hercules transport plane will land in the East Timorese capital, Dili, carrying the first wave of troops from the international force given the perilous and unpredictable task of restoring peace to the shattered province. "The rules under which they will operate will allow them to take all necessary steps not only to protect themselves but also to achieve the objectives of their mission."Mr Howard also referred to the increasingly angry anti-Australia demonstrations that have taken place in Indonesia in recent days, saying: "Australia's quarrel is not with the Indonesian people Indonesia is our nearest neighbour.

We want friendly relations with the people of that country.". Only one Australian soldier has died in active service since the Vietnam War, so the impact of casualties would be deeply felt.Australian newspapers expressed their support for Australia's involvement in East Timor yesterday, but said the country would have to bear most of the expense for the province's long-term security and rehabilitation.The Prime Minister flew to Townsville in northern Queensland last night, where some of the troops who will form the Australian contingent of the multinational peace-keeping force are stationed.Mr Howard, who was flying on to the northern city of Darwin to speak to troops, said in his televised address that the government's decision to commit Australian forces to the peace-keeping team had not been taken lightly.Interfet would work under robust rules of engagement, he said. But there have been increasing signs of trouble, including a recent succession of questionable police shootings now being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Although Chief Parks and his predecessor are African-Americans, the city's minority populations say they have had little reason to change their view of the LAPD as an overwhelmingly racist white force that shoots first and asks questions later.Many people in poor, crime-prone areas complain that evidence-planting, harassment and police brutality are routine - an allegation supported privately by some people in the criminal justice system.An attempt to impose civilian oversight of the force, introduced in response to the 1992 riots, has proved only half-successful because of the vagaries of city politics and because of a sharp decline in the crime rate as the Californian economy has swung back from depression to boom.SORRY RECORDOF THE LAPD`Bloody Christmas'After drinking heavily at a Christmas Eve party in 1951 officers storm into a cell at Lincoln Heights jail and beat seven young Mexican Americans so hard the walls are covered with blood.

However, that consensus could start to crumble if troops are killed. "We wish them godspeed."With Australia's initial troop commitment likely to rise to 4,500 in the coming weeks, opinion polls and radio phone-ins suggest that nearly all Australians support the country's leading role in the International Force for East Timor (Interfet). With the nation braced for possible casualties, from what is Australia's biggest military deployment since the Vietnam War, the Prime Minister, John Howard, warned that the Australian-led peace-keeping force in East Timor could face a long and dangerous haul. "We all hope that this mission can be completed smoothly and quickly, but we must, however, prepare for the possibility that it could be long and protracted," he said in a pre-recorded address to the nation broadcast on televison last night. "Although the goal of the force is the restoration of peace and stability, the conditions that they encounter could be violent Any operation of this kind is dangerous. AUSTRALIA WILL witness an event today that has not been seen for a generation: the departure of 2,000 men and women on a hazardous military operation from which some may not return. The four white officers involved are absolved of wrongdoing in 1992 That sparks the worst riots in Los Angeles' history..