Sydney - Australian Prime Minister John Howard blasted US
senator and presidential hopeful Barack Obama on Sunday saying his
ascension to the White House would hand a victory to terrorists.
Obama formally launched his bid Saturday for the Democratic
candidacy to become the first black US president. In his speech,
Obama also offered a plan to withdraw US troops from Iraq by March
2008.
'I think that would just encourage those who wanted completely to
destabilize and destroy Iraq, and create chaos and victory for the
terrorists to hang on and hope for an Obama victory,' Howard told
local television.
'If I was running al-Qaeda in Iraq, I'd 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,' he added.
But Howard appeared to confuse the senator's stump-speech proposal
with the US presidential election itself, which will not be held
until November 2008. The winner of that election would be inaugurated
in January 2009.
The opposition Labor Party said Howard's tirade against Obama was
unprecedented.
'It's the first time that I can recall that an Australian prime
minister has engaged in American politics in such a partisan way ...
actually telling American people what side of politics they should
vote for,' Labor foreign affairs spokesman Robert McClelland said.
'It's most inappropriate, it demeans the Australia-United States
alliance to suggest it is a relationship between political parties
rather than an enduring relationship between two people.'
The veteran prime minister, described by President George Bush as
a 'man of steel' for committing Australian troops for the invasion
of Iraq, has vowed to stay in Iraq with the US.
'There's no way by March 2008, which is a little over a year from
now, everything will have been stabilized so that America can get out
in March 2008,' Howard said. 'And, if America is defeated in Iraq,
the hope of ever getting a Palestinian settlement will be gone.'
Opposition leader Kevin Rudd said that if Labor won government at
the general election later this year it would bring Australian troops
home. But he would not commit to a timetable.
'All I'm saying is we'll be taking those troops out of there but
we'll do so in close consultation with our American ally,' Rudd said.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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