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| Down Under | |
| Howard: Al-Qaeda 'praying for Obama win' | |
| 2007-02-11 | |
| PRIME Minister John Howard has launched a broadside against US presidential hopeful Barack Obama, warning his victory could destroy Iraq and prospects for peace in the Middle East. Mr Howard's stinging attack against the popular Democrat, who formally launched his bid for the Democratic candidacy overnight, also appears to commit Australian troops to staying in Iraq well into 2008. Only days after saying Australia's alliance with the US was about more than his personal friendship with US President George W Bush, Mr Howard warned that an Obama victory would be a boost for the terrorists. The man who wants to be the first black US president has pledged to withdraw US troops from Iraq by March 2008, a timetable Mr Howard believes is dangerous. "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 (an) Obama victory," Mr Howard told the Nine Network. "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." Labor described Mr Howard's attack against Senator Obama as unprecedented. Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Robert McClelland said Mr Howard was virtually telling people not to vote Democrat.
Mr Howard's comments also suggest he anticipates Australian troops will remain in Iraq well into 2008. He has repeatedly vowed to stay the course with the coalition forces in Iraq and predicted there was no way the US could withdraw in a little over a year. "There's no way by March 2008, which is a little over a year from now, everything will have been stabilised so that the US can get out in March 2008," Mr Howard said. "And, if the US is defeated in Iraq, the hope of ever getting a Palestinian settlement will be gone." Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd indicated that if Labor won government, the troop rotation in place at that time was likely to be the last. However, he would not give a definitive timetable for withdrawal. "What we would do with the US is consult with them... about our removal of the Australian force on the ground," Mr Rudd told the Ten Network. He pledged that Australia, under his leadership, would maintain its security detachment of around 110 personnel guarding the Australian embassy in Baghdad. It would also provide some form of security assistance to the Iraqis. Mr Rudd indicated that other troops would only remain in Iraq for up to six months at most after a Labor victory. "Rotations of troops are normally in six-month cycles, (so it) depends on where you are in that cycle," he said. "All I'm saying is we'll be taking those troops out of there but we'll do so in close consultation with our US ally." | |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #18 LUCIANNE/WORLDNEWS > MOSCOW TIMES > Russians looking ahead and desire a HILLARY win. * "RACE TO THE LEFT" = also a RACE BACK TO BILL. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2007-02-11 22:56 |
| #17 #16 - "genuine alarm at the implications of an Obama Presidency, for Australia and the world" I know the thought of that alarms me. *shudder* |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2007-02-11 22:03 |
| #16 This is a very surprising thing for John Howard to do. He is the most low key and discreet politician I have yet to see, and the only credible explanation is a genuine alarm at the implications of an Obama Presidency,for Australia and the world. |
| Posted by: Grunter 2007-02-11 22:01 |
| #15 Obama really screwed this up. First, his spokesman issues an ignorant statement that was very insulting to Australia. Then the Media's Darling appears very agitated before the microphone and calls Prime Minister Howard "George Bush's ally". Hey dumbsh*t - he's AMERICA'S ally. If you push for surrender, you will be called on it. Think of how many times a day President Bush gets slammed by allies and enemies - you don't see him react at all. Ain't no way Barak Hussein Obama is presidential material (much less Senator). |
| Posted by: cajunbelle 2007-02-11 21:37 |
| #14 WEEKLY STANDARD + PRISONPLANET > Bill Kristol > says Obama's POTUS speech is akin to "can't we all get along", feel-good PC speech of appeasement and concession, and is ANTI-LINCOLN + PRO-SLAVERY [SECESSIONIST?] iff Amer was back in 1860. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2007-02-11 20:56 |
| #13 Pprime Minister was talking to an Australian network, presumably in Australia, about the pledge of an American senator and declared presidential candidate to see that America withdraws from Iraq by 3/08, long before he would take office should he win. We her at Rantburg are quite possibly the only American voters who will know of this. Not exactly interfering in our election in quite the same way as, eg. all those letters from Guardian readers to individual registered Ohio voters was. Y'all remember, when they advised us poor idiots in the strongest possible terms to join the rest of the world in voting for Senator John Kerry? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-02-11 18:58 |
| #12 I'm sorry, I don't care who it is, I don't care how cute his head is without hair. I draw a line when they start talkin' about internal U.S. politics. Enough. Govern the Aussies (which you have been very good at). Shut the fark up about the U.S. |
| Posted by: Mizzou Mafia 2007-02-11 18:40 |
| #11 Barack Hussein Obama is the Mujaheddin candidate. Always use his full name, since he hasn't bothered to change it. The more sensible pols in Chicago have been legally changing their names to Irish-sounding ones, like Patrick O'Brien, for quite some time, since the stats show candidates with Irish names tend to get elected in Chicago, anyway, by the brain-dead, and sometimes factually dead, electorate. Obama's biggest strategic failure was continuing to use an obviously Muslim name, rather than changing it during law school to something like Sean Patrick Kennedy, against which Hillary wouldn't stand a chance. Maybe his choice will turn out to be a success, with the 45% of the electorate seemingly under the sway of a death wish. Meanwhile he continues to speak with a golden forked tongue, out of both sides of his mouth, and the MSM are rolling out the red carpet ahead of the candidate of the hour. "I think that it's flattering that one of George Bush's allies on the other side of the world started attacking me a day after I announced" my candidacy for president, Obama said during a news conference in Iowa, the first state to hold party caucuses. "I take that as a compliment." At the Ames rally, Obama said the war should have been neither authorized nor waged and decried that the lives of 3,000 Americans have been "wasted" in the conflict. "The problem is not that the information's not out there," he said. "The problem is that that's not what you guys have been reporting on." Get the information out: Barack Hussein Obama is scum. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2007-02-11 16:13 |
| #10 AlanC, think primaries, Kerry's hat, and Jimmy Carter, all condensed in one man who claims to follow in the footsteps of Lincoln but works for the Copperheads. |
| Posted by: Kalle (kafir forever) 2007-02-11 14:43 |
| #9 What Dave. D said, only more of it. |
| Posted by: Secret Master 2007-02-11 14:14 |
| #8 O bama = The Manchurian Anti-Christ |
| Posted by: J.D. Lux 2007-02-11 13:44 |
| #7 Al-Qaeda 'praying for Obama win' and Soodies are paying. |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2007-02-11 12:58 |
| #6 More proof Obama is nothing more than an empty suit. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2007-02-11 12:31 |
| #5 Um just between us guys.... since when can a freshman senator order troops around anywhere? If I recall correctly the election isn't until NOVEMBER 2008. So how the hell can this bozo do anything in March? |
| Posted by: AlanC 2007-02-11 11:55 |
| #4 "Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Robert McClelland said Mr Howard was virtually telling people not to vote Democrat." As well he should. Any vote for any Democrat, for any public office high or low-- even County Animal Control Officer-- is a vote to empower a political movement dedicated to the destruction of everything in this country worth preserving, and dedicated to the creation of a Socialist totalitarian state in America. And I am no more willing to condemn my grandchildren to live as serfs under such a state, than I am to have them grow up under shariah. And I say that as someone who, until just a few years ago, had been a Democrat for over three decades. After seeing the true soul of the Democratic Party since 9/11, I will NEVER vote for another of those bastards again so long as I live. Nor will I abide anyone who does. |
| Posted by: Dave D. 2007-02-11 10:34 |
| #3 I suspect Howard is praying for a Howard win later this year. I'll consider voting for candidates willing to put Oz first and Islam last, regardless of party. |
| Posted by: Whiskettes4Hilali 2007-02-11 10:02 |
| #2 "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." OOOhhh, that's a keeper. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2007-02-11 09:38 |
| #1 Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Robert McClelland said Mr Howard was virtually telling people not to vote Democrat. I've been doing the same thing for YEARS! |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2007-02-11 09:10 |