Posted on 02/11/2007 5:51:17 PM PST by naturalman1975
THE Prime Minister has fired another salvo in his growing war of words with US presidential hopeful Barack Obama, saying the senator had dodged his criticism of his Iraq withdrawal plan.
Senator Obama today challenged John Howard to commit another 20,000 Australian troops to Iraq after the Prime Minister said his call to bring American troops home by March 2008 would be a victory for al Qaeda in Iraq, who would be hoping for a Democrat win in next year's presidential election.
The US senator accused Mr Howard of "empty rhetoric" in his criticism of his stand, as Australia has committed only a fraction of the number of troops the US military has sent to Iraq.
The Federal Opposition has said Mr Howard is letting his personal friendship with US President George W. Bush cloud his judgment and should apoligise.
But far from backing down from the developing spat, Mr Howard has said today that Senator Obama's response missed the point of his criticism.
"I think the most interesting thing about (Senator Obama's comments) is that it didn't really address the substance of the issue," Mr Howard has said on ABC Radio.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...
Latham had been mentioned in the question, so President Bush didn't need to name him for everyone to know who he was talking about. Also, unlike the US at the moment, there was only one possible alternative Prime Minister, so there was no need to differentiate.
And the Prime Ministers comments were made in response to a question in an interview on Channel 9 Australia.
My gosh, Drudge is playing his speech from yesterday...he is SOOOOOOO dull, with his U-2 theme song playing. The man is a wet dishrag, just like Pres. Palmer on 24.
Transcript of the relevant portion:
LAURIE OAKES: On that subject, Senator Barack Obama's announced overnight he's running for the Democrat Presidential nomination, and he says if he gets it he has a plan to bring troops home by March, 2008 and his direct quote is "Letting the Iraqis know we'll not be there forever is our last, best hope to pressure the Sunies and Shiah to come to the table and find peace". So, basically he's agreeing with the Labor Party.
JOHN HOWARD: Yes, I think he's wrong, I mean, he's a long way from being President of the United States. I think he's wrong. I think that would just encourage those who wanted completely to destabilise and destroy Iraq, and create chaos and victory for the terrorists to hang on and hope for Obama victory. If I was running Al-Qaeda in Iraq, I would put a circle around March 2008, and pray, as many times as possible, for a victory not only for Obama, but also for the Democrats.
LAURIE OAKES: If he wins, and you're still there, bad news for the alliance.
JOHN HOWARD: Well I tell you what would be even worse news for the fight against terrorism, if America is defeated in Iraq. I mean, we have to understand what we are dealing with. We're dealing here with a situation where if America pulls out of Iraq in March 2008. It can only be in circumstances of defeat. There's no way by March 2008, which is a little over a year from now, everything will have been stabilised so that America can get out in March 2008. And, if America is defeated in Iraq, the hope of ever getting a Palestinian settlement will be gone. There'll be enormous conflict between the Shi'a and the Sunnis throughout the whole of the Middle East. Saudi Arabia and Jordan will both be (destabilised), Al-Qaeda will trumpet it as the greatest victory they've ever had and that will have implications in our region because of the link, the ideological link at the very least, between the Al-Qaeda and JI. Proposition Three.
Howard 2008! :)
Even if it was constitutionally possible - we're keeping him.
ROFL I notice LMAO that funny very true
Prime Minister Howard is a very discerning man...Would love to relocate to Australia!
Both parties send people around the globe to try to plant stories in the foreign press in the hope that those stories percolate and end up back here in our "legitimate mainstream" newsrooms. The Republicans discovered that this is the best way to circumvent the Democrat-controlled "mainstream" newsrooms here in America which routinely spike any stories that are hurtful to their (Democrat) party and to their candidates. Hillary got so mad about the Republicans' success at circumventing the "mainstream" press that she ended up blubbering about "a vast right wing conspiracy".
I hear LMAO
Obama didn't even know who our Representative to the UN was, he thought it was Josh Belton, instead of John Bolton.
DUNCAN HUNTER: I think the Aussies have earned a right to comment on the world stage about their partner in this endeavour, because they've been fighting side-by-side with us in Iraq. And so I think that John Howard, while it wasn't a very complimentary statement, he is basically stating the truth and that is that what we say on the Senate floor on or the House floor goes to a world audience.
And it has an impact on not only our allies, but also our adversaries.
A lot of Australians would like that as well - but the US doesn't stay out of our domestic politics, and because a nations domestic politics impact their international relations, it's a pipedream to expect that that will change.
I disagree. As an ally he's weighing in on how wrong it is to set an arbitrary troop withdrawl date.
Thanks for posting this. I didn't know that. That changes my view. Somehow I got the impression Howard basically popped off about Obama. But he didn't. Well that explains it.
Gee .. Is this the kind of talk Obama meant when he said we should reach out to other countries ... by insulting them??
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