Carl
13-Feb-07, 21:51
"Obama hits back after Australian PM slams his Iraq stance"
"If I were 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," Howard said, speaking on "Sunday," a TV show on Australia's Nine Network.
Mr Howard on Sunday said al-Qaeda would be praying for a Democratic win at the next US election in 2008 and in particular a win for wildly popular Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama.
Mr Howard, a close ally of current Republican president George W. Bush, said a presidential win by Senator Obama, who wants to withdraw US combat troops from Iraq, would be welcomed by al-Qaeda.
Democrats have reacted with disdain, with Senator Obama saying if Mr Howard is so strongly supportive of the war in Iraq then he should send another 20,000 Australian troops into battle.
"They (Democrats) are running saying it's time to just abandon the Middle East to al-Qaeda," Western Australian Liberal Wilson Tuckey said.
"The prime minister is entitled to say that this man is rather Lathamesque in his views about Iraq and, at the end of the day, we've got to be very careful about this cut and run mentality that seems to operate in the left-wing citadels of governments or would-be governments around the world," Mr Randall said.
"As Australians, we have always stood by our mates when they are in trouble, whether they're US mates or whether they're Iraqi mates and we definitely aren't going to walk away from Iraq and sort of leave it to just descend in to hell like some sort of Rwanda."
"If I were 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," Howard said, speaking on "Sunday," a TV show on Australia's Nine Network.
Mr Howard on Sunday said al-Qaeda would be praying for a Democratic win at the next US election in 2008 and in particular a win for wildly popular Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama.
Mr Howard, a close ally of current Republican president George W. Bush, said a presidential win by Senator Obama, who wants to withdraw US combat troops from Iraq, would be welcomed by al-Qaeda.
Democrats have reacted with disdain, with Senator Obama saying if Mr Howard is so strongly supportive of the war in Iraq then he should send another 20,000 Australian troops into battle.
"They (Democrats) are running saying it's time to just abandon the Middle East to al-Qaeda," Western Australian Liberal Wilson Tuckey said.
"The prime minister is entitled to say that this man is rather Lathamesque in his views about Iraq and, at the end of the day, we've got to be very careful about this cut and run mentality that seems to operate in the left-wing citadels of governments or would-be governments around the world," Mr Randall said.
"As Australians, we have always stood by our mates when they are in trouble, whether they're US mates or whether they're Iraqi mates and we definitely aren't going to walk away from Iraq and sort of leave it to just descend in to hell like some sort of Rwanda."