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Obama fights back after PM Howard attack
US presidential hopeful Barack Obama today challenged John Howard to commit another 20,000 Australian troops to Iraq after the Prime Minister attacked the senator's plan to bring American troops home. The US senator accused Mr Howard of "empty rhetoric" in his criticism of his stand.

"I think it's flattering that one of George Bush's allies on the other side of the world started attacking me the day after I announced," Senator Obama said in Iowa. "I would also note that we have close to 140,000 troops in Iraq, and my understanding is Mr Howard has deployed 1400, so if he is ... to fight the good fight in Iraq, I would suggest that he calls up another 20,000 Australians and sends them to Iraq.

"Otherwise it's just a bunch of empty rhetoric."
Ouch, ouch, ouch. Mr. Howard has a mark on his face from that one. Obama can apparently counter-punch.
Mr Howard earlier attacked Senator Obama's plan to withdraw US combat troops from Iraq by March 31, 2008.
Our story yesterday here.
He said Senator Obama's pledges on Iraq were good news only for insurgents operating in the war-ravaged country. "I think he's wrong. I think that will just encourage those who want to completely destabilise and destroy Iraq, and create chaos and a victory for the terrorists to hang on and hope for an Obama victory," Mr Howard said on Channel 9. "If I were running al-Qaeda in Iraq, I would put a circle around March 2008 and be praying as many times as possible for a victory not only for Obama but also for the Democrats."
Posted by: Steve White 2007-02-12
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=180141