Australia Will Not Cut and Run from Iraq

[onedomino]

Unlike the Spanish, Australians will not cut and run from Iraq. Mark Latham, of the Australian Labor Party, has promised that if he is elected Prime Minister next Saturday, 9 October, he will withdraw Australian troops from Iraq, That is, Latham promises to cut and run from Iraq the way the Spanish Socialists did when they were elected. The problem for Latham is that he is behind PM Howard in the polls 52 to 40 percent. PM Howard has promised to stay the course in Iraq. Australia and the UK are America's strongest supporters in the War on Terrorism.

Australian election campaign enters final week

http://www.abc.net.au/ra/newstories/RANewsStories_1212343.htm

With just five days to go in the Australian federal election campaign, Prime Minister, John Howard, says he thinks victory is his.
Our reporter, Louise Willis, says Mr. Howard's comments come as the leader of the opposition Labor Party, Mark Latham, has branded himself the "underdog" of the campaign.
Mr. Howard says he believes Australian voters will put their faith in him at the weekend.
"I'm not focusing on losing. I'm focusing on winning," he said.
"I believe that we have performed for the Australian people, and ... I believe, in the end, the Australian people will put their trust in me."
Mr. Latham, while talking up his passion and fitness for office, isn't over-confident about his chances.
"Labor goes into the final week as underdogs - we're up against an incumbent government," he said.
Both leaders will use this final week of the campaign to announce new policies, to do a final blitz of key marginal seats, and to reinforce their campaign messages - Mr. Howard on the economy and interest rates, and Mr. Latham on health and education.

Ruling coalition leads latest opinion poll

The latest public opinion poll shows Australia's ruling Liberal-National party coalition is maintaining its lead over the Australian Labor Party.
Elizabeth Byrne, says the AC Neilson poll published in the Age and Sydney Morning Herald newspapers shows the government in a strong position, on 52 per cent of the two party preferred vote, with Labor behind on 48 per cent.
The poll of nearly 1,400 voters was taken in the days after the two party launches.
John Howard remains the preferred Prime Minister on 52 per cent, with the leader of the opposition Labor Party, Mark Latham, on 40 per cent. The poll also shows support for the Greens in the Senate has strengthened to 12 per cent, more than double their vote in the 2001 election.
And the Democrats support is on f5 per cent, two points below their vote at the last election

 

[NATO AIR]

that's great news

 

[Avatar4321]

Yeah. glad to hear Senator Kerry's sister didnt influence them much.

 

[Adam's Apple]

Wonder why we haven't read or heard too much in the media about Senator Kerry's sister campaigning in Australia against John Howard? Seems to me that would be a really big story--the sister of a U. S. presidential candidate campaigning vigorously to defeat the prime minister of Australia, one of the coalition countries supporting the war on terror with both boots on the ground and finances! Well, let's see--if this became big news here it might just defeat her brother's chances of becoming president, so we'd better not give that too much air time or print space. Can you imagine the hellabaloo that would be made if Bush's sister campaigned vigorously in France for the defeat of Chirac or in Germany for the defeat of Schroeder? We would never hear the end of it 24/7.

 

[onedomino]

Wonder why we haven't read or heard too much in the media about Senator Kerry's sister campaigning in Australia against John Howard? Seems to me that would be a really big story--the sister of a U. S. presidential candidate campaigning vigorously to defeat the prime minister of Australia, one of the coalition countries supporting the war on terror with both boots on the ground and finances! Well, let's see--if this became big news here it might just defeat her brother's chances of becoming president, so we'd better not give that too much air time or print space. Can you imagine the hellabaloo that would be made if Bush's sister campaigned vigorously in France for the defeat of Chirac or in Germany for the defeat of Schroeder? We would never hear the end of it 24/7.

-----------------

Or...can you imagine the US liberal media category 5 shitstorm that would be caused by Australian PM Howard's sister campaining in America against Kerry?

The Art Of Losing Friends
By Charles Krauthammer

From the Washington Post (might require registration): http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45794-2004Sep23.html

Friday, September 24, 2004; Page A25
Of all our allies in the world, which is the only one to have joined the United States in the foxhole in every war in the past 100 years? Not Britain, not Canada, certainly not France. The answer is Australia.
Australia does not share only a community of values with the United States. It understands that its safety rests ultimately on a stable international structure that, in turn, rests not on parchment treaties but on the power and credibility of the United States. Which is why Australia is with us today in both Afghanistan and Iraq.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard has taken great risks and much political heat for his support of America. There is a national election in Australia on Oct. 9, and the race is neck and neck between Howard and Labor Party leader Mark Latham. Latham has pledged to withdraw from Iraq.
This is a critical election not only for Australia but also for the United States. Think of the effect on America, its front-line soldiers and its coalition partners if one of its closest allies turns tail and runs.
The terrorists are well aware of this potential effect. Everyone knows about the train bombings in Madrid that succeeded in bringing down a pro-American government and led to Spain's precipitous withdrawal from Iraq. But few here noticed that this month's car bombing in Jakarta, Indonesia, was designed to have precisely the same effect.
Where was the bomb set off? At the Australian Embassy. When was it set off? Just weeks before the Australian election and just three days before the only televised debate between Howard and Latham.
The terrorists' objective is to intimidate all countries allied with America. Make them bleed and tell them this is the price they pay for being a U.S. ally. The implication is obvious: Abandon America and buy your safety.
That is what the terrorists are saying. Why is the Kerry campaign saying the same thing? "John Kerry's campaign has warned Australians that the Howard Government's support for the US in Iraq has made them a bigger target for international terrorists." So reports the Weekend Australian (Sept. 18).
Americans Overseas for Kerry is the Kerry operation for winning the crucial votes of Americans living abroad (remember the Florida recount?), including more than 100,000 who live in Australia. Its leader was interviewed Sept. 16 by The Australian's Washington correspondent, Roy Eccleston. Asked if she believed the terrorist threat to Australians was now greater because of the support for President Bush, she replied: "I would have to say that," noting that "[t]he most recent attack was on the Australian embassy in Jakarta."
She said this of her country (and of the war that Australia is helping us with in Iraq): "[W]e are endangering the Australians now by this wanton disregard for international law and multilateral channels." Mark Latham could not have said it better. Nor could Jemaah Islamiah, the al Qaeda affiliate that killed nine people in the Jakarta bombing.
This Kerry spokesman, undermining a key ally on the eve of a critical election, is no rogue political operative. She is the head of Americans Overseas for Kerry -- Diana Kerry, sister to John.
She is, of course, merely echoing her brother, who, at a time when allies have shown great political courage in facing down both terrorists and domestic opposition for their assistance to the United States in Iraq, calls these allies the "coalition of the coerced and the bribed."
This snide and reckless put-down more than undermines our best friends abroad. It demonstrates the cynicism of Kerry's promise to broaden our coalition in Iraq. If this is how Kerry repays America's closest allies -- ridiculing the likes of Tony Blair and John Howard -- who does he think is going to step up tomorrow to be America's friend?
The only thing that distinguishes Kerry's Iraq proposals from Bush's is his promise to deploy his unique, near-mystical ability to bring in new allies to fight and pay for the war in Iraq -- to "make Iraq the world's responsibility" and get others to "share the burden," as he said this week at New York University.
Yet even Richard Holbrooke, a top Kerry foreign policy adviser, admits that the president of France is not going to call up President Kerry and say, "How many divisions should I send to Iraq?"
Nor will anyone else. Kerry abuses America's closest friends while courting those, like Germany and France, that have deliberately undermined America before, during and after the war. What lessons are leaders abroad to draw from this when President Kerry asks them -- pretty please in his most mellifluous French -- to put themselves on the line for the United States?

 

[Adam's Apple]

Onedomino: "Can you imagine the US liberal media category 5 shitstorm that would be caused by Australian PM Howard's sister campaigning in America against Kerry?"

There you go--all hell would surely break loose in our liberal media if that would ever happen!

 

[dilloduck]

Onedomino: "Can you imagine the US liberal media category 5 shitstorm that would be caused by Australian PM Howard's sister campaigning in America against Kerry?"

There you go--all hell would surely break loose in our liberal media if that would ever happen!

Then it would be time for me to cut and run !!