Fed: Latham isolated over Iraq troops, Howard says

AAP General News (Australia)
04-02-2004
Fed: Latham isolated over Iraq troops, Howard says

CANBERRA, April 2 AAP - Opposition Leader Mark Latham was isolated among party leaders
around the world with his vow to bring Australian troops home from Iraq by Christmas if
elected, Prime Minister John Howard said.

Mr Howard said there was a clear difference between the government and Labor over Australia's
commitment to Iraq, with the coalition promising to keep troops in the strife-torn country
until the job was done.

But Mr Latham had made a unilateral decision to withdraw as soon as the handover to
a sovereign Iraqi government took place, regardless of whether the Iraqis or the United
Nations wanted them to stay, Mr Howard said.

"The Labor party's position here is even more radical than the position of the new
Spanish socialist government," Mr Howard told ABC radio in Tasmania.

"(The Spanish government) said immediately that it would bring the troops home but
if there were a new UN resolution, the new socialist government in Spain said it might
reconsider that position.

"No such qualification has been entered by Mr Latham.

"He is really one out. His position is quite different from anybody else I've heard
of on this subject who is in a position of responsibility."

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KEYWORD: IRAQ AUST HOWARD DAYLEAD

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