Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Media: AFP
Byline: N/A
Date: 27 October 2006
SYDNEY, Oct 27, 2006 (AFP) - Australia should keep its troops in Iraq in
order to protect the country's ties with superpower ally the United States,
Prime Minister John Howard said.
Howard, a keen supporter of US President George W. Bush's administration,
told supporters at a dinner in New South Wales late Thursday he stood by his
domestically unpopular decision to send troops to Iraq and would assume
responsibility for it.
Loyalty and friendship were critically important and were only tested when
under pressure, the conservative prime minister stressed.
"And the idea that Australia could walk out of Iraq and walk out of the
coalition (of the willing), and imagine that that would be prosperous in
terms of our alliance and our friendship with the United States is living in
fairyland," he said.
"Part of our obligation as a good friend to the people of the United States
is to understand the importance of maintaining a place in that alliance and
the importance of maintaining our involvement in the coalition," he said.
Pulling troops out of Iraq would also condemn the country to certain civil
war, he said.
Australia joined the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, and still has about
1,300 troops involved in operations in the area.
But Howard is coming under intense pressure from the public and political
rivals to withdraw the force, as the US appears to sway in its commitment to
stay in Iraq until complete peace and democracy are installed.
An ACNielsen poll published earlier this month found that 59 percent of
Australians say their nation's troops should leave Iraq now, with only 36
percent believing they should stay.
Byline: N/A
Date: 27 October 2006
SYDNEY, Oct 27, 2006 (AFP) - Australia should keep its troops in Iraq in
order to protect the country's ties with superpower ally the United States,
Prime Minister John Howard said.
Howard, a keen supporter of US President George W. Bush's administration,
told supporters at a dinner in New South Wales late Thursday he stood by his
domestically unpopular decision to send troops to Iraq and would assume
responsibility for it.
Loyalty and friendship were critically important and were only tested when
under pressure, the conservative prime minister stressed.
"And the idea that Australia could walk out of Iraq and walk out of the
coalition (of the willing), and imagine that that would be prosperous in
terms of our alliance and our friendship with the United States is living in
fairyland," he said.
"Part of our obligation as a good friend to the people of the United States
is to understand the importance of maintaining a place in that alliance and
the importance of maintaining our involvement in the coalition," he said.
Pulling troops out of Iraq would also condemn the country to certain civil
war, he said.
Australia joined the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, and still has about
1,300 troops involved in operations in the area.
But Howard is coming under intense pressure from the public and political
rivals to withdraw the force, as the US appears to sway in its commitment to
stay in Iraq until complete peace and democracy are installed.
An ACNielsen poll published earlier this month found that 59 percent of
Australians say their nation's troops should leave Iraq now, with only 36
percent believing they should stay.