AL-QAEDA has directly condemned Prime Minister John Howard over his secret trip to Iraq over the Anzac weekend. The Federal Government said today Mr Howard would not be dictated to by terrorists following an overnight statement in which al-Qaeda described the Prime Minister as "wicked". The statement was signed by suspected terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and claimed responsibility for a suicide boat attack on Iraq's Basra oil terminal. The statement said the "wicked" Australian Prime Minister rushed to the site of the boat attack, in which three US sailors died, to "see what happened to his troops".
A planned visit by Mr Howard to the Australian frigate HMAS Stuart was cancelled when the ship rushed to rescue Americans wounded in the attack. Mal Brough, Minister Assisting the Minister for Defence, said the Government was aware of the threat of terrorism and the risk involved in Mr Howard travelling to Iraq. He said this was why the trip was kept so secret, but that the Government refused to be dictated to by terrorists. "The most important thing to remember here is that we should never, never, wilt in the face of threats from terrorists," said Mr Brough, who accompanied Mr Howard to Iraq. "It doesn't matter who you are in the world, but particularly when you are a significant leader like the Prime Minister, trying to placate terrorists by doing what they want is certainly no recipe for success. So the Prime Minister was right to go and we do recognise there was a threat. It's also the reason why we maintained secrecy before we went there so as not (to) heighten the risk to our troops or obviously to those personnel that were assisting the Prime Minister and myself on that visit."
Mr Brough condemned Labor's comments that Australia was not providing peacekeepers or protecting the Iraqi people and therefore the troops should come home. "The comments that have been made by the opposition degrading and denigrating the work that's been done by our troops is both ignorant but also very offensive to the families that are back here," Mr Brough said. "They are doing very, very important work in the rebuilding of the security of Iraq." He said Mr Howard had wanted to visit troops in Iraq for some time and felt there was no better day than Anzac Day to do so. "There's is no more significant day in the calendar of this country and particularly the defence forces, than Anzac Day, and I'd say that not only was he so very pleased to see and hear firsthand from them but they in turn were very pleased to see their Prime Minister," he said. |