Australian soldiers in Iraq become big election issue

[dArKeR]

REUTERS , CANBERRA
Friday, Mar 26, 2004,Page 5

Bringing Australian soldiers back from Iraq by Christmas has become a major political issue as an election looms, and the opposition's popular new leader insisted yesterday that the troops had to come home.

Opposition Labor leader Mark Latham, who has taken the lead in opinion polls, has vowed to bring Australia's 850 troops home by Christmas if his center-left party wins power in an election expected by most analysts to be held in October or November.

But Prime Minister John Howard, a close US ally who sent 2,000 military personnel to Iraq, has accused Latham of sending the wrong signal to terror groups, Australia's allies and the Iraqi people and called on him to reconsider his commitment.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2004/03/26/2003107799

[daleo]

1. I wonder if Howard will be next

We can only hope.

[Kool Kitty]

2. Yesterday, I was at the book store and saw a magazine

(I think it was "The Economist") that had a terrific cover. Bush, Blair, Howard and Aznar were all pictured and their pics were made into playing cards. There was a red "X" drawn through the card of Aznar. The caption was-One Down, Three to Go. I thought it was pretty clever.

[xxqqqzme]

3. there was a sign like

that @ the march in LA last Saturday. It had 3 pix - squatter, poodle & aznar. Aznar's pix had the red circle w/ the line thru it saying 'one down- 2 to go'