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| Down Under |
| Criticism of Iraq deployment |
| 2005-02-24 |
| Prime Minister John Howard says Labor's attacks on the Federal Government's decision to send more troops to Iraq are contradictory and confused. Mr Howard says that until recently, he was not persuaded that Australia should commit another 450 soldiers to Iraq. "It was only right towards the end that we, as a group of ministers, and then the national security committee, came to the view that we should make this contribution," he said. Labor's Foreign Affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd says Mr Howard's comments confirm that it was a rushed decision. "How could there be such a U-turn in government decision-making within the space of a couple of weeks?" he asked. But Mr Howard says Opposition Leader Kim Beazley has previously accused the Government of misleading voters by planning the troop deployment before the election. "This is Mr Beazley on every issue - he walks both sides of the street," Mr Howard said. "He sort of test runs an argument and if it doesn't work he then changes to another argument. "The truth is that we did not have this in contemplation at the time of the election and what I said at the time of the election was an honest statement of the Government's position." |
| Posted by:God Save The World |