Australian PM John Howard touched off a firestorm over the weekend when he discussed Barrack Obama's announcement of candidacy for President of the United States. Here is the excerpt from the interview:LAURIE OAKES: Proposition two for your comment: Australians are increasingly opposed to the Iraq War, and it's starting to bite electorally, undermining the advantage you've had over Labor on national security issues?
JOHN HOWARD: Once again commentary but I'll address the substance of the issue. The Australian people have always been, when you ask them in a poll, against our involvement in Iraq. I accept that. As one of the answers I give to those who say I'm a poll-driven politician. It was about the least poll-driven decision I've taken in my entire political life but I believed in it; I believed Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. So, incidentally did Mr Rudd. Mr. Rudd in fact said it was an empirical fact that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. His argument with us was whether we should have tried to get another United Nations resolution but I've got to now look at the current situation, and the impact on the alliance, the impact on the future of Iraq, if we were to get up and go, and Mr Rudd can't slip and slide and have it both ways, as he tried to do this morning. You either go or you stay, you either rat on the ally or stay with the ally, it's as simple as that. And, if it's alright for us to go, it's alright for the Americans and the British to go, and if everybody goes Iraq will descend into total civil chaos ...
LAURIE OAKES: On that very subject,
JOHN HOWARD: …and there'll be a lot of bloodshed.
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.
OK, first, let me say that it appears John Howard is a good, decent man who is not afraid, unlike our politicians to call someone on their ignorance. Unlike our politicians PM Howard names the opposition and makes passionate and reasoned arguments, calling them wrong, not just saying we have a difference of opinion.
I think it is telling that one of our allies has observed that Obama and/or the Democrats winning in 08 would be a disaster not just for the US, but for the world. Howard correctly surmises what Obama's plans would be, as well as the Democrat agenda, and he has the courage to speak out and call it. John Howard understands the nature of the Global War on Terror, and he understands what defeat and weakness in Iraq will do to bolster al Queda and other islamofascist groups.
Kudos to Mr. Howard, and thank you, sir, for being such a great and noble ally.
Of course, Howard's comments have been met with calls for apology. If this were President Bush, he would have had Obama over and done some photo ops, and probably would have allowed him to help draft new education legislation or social security legislation (that new tone worked out so well, didn't it Mr. President?). But not John Howard. He is standing by his comments, and I say, more power to him. Not only is he entitled to his opinion, he is dead-on right!
