From my down-under pen-pal Tim Gillin over at Stress:
“The Australian opposition leader Kim Beazley has labeled Iraq, the worst foreign policy failure since Vietnam. Beazley, recently in the US, outlined a proposed withdrawal plan he calls ‘repositioning’. Beazley is generally considered to be ‘on the right’ of the Australian Labor Party (which is itself generally to the right of the UK Labour Party). Beazley has also been considered amongst the most pro-US of ALP leaders.
The Beazley position has come under fire by both the governing party in Australia and the Iraqi government. The government however now has an internal problem over Iraq with a senior Senator breaking ranks. During the actual invasion the government had serious criticism from conservative circles, including a former Liberal Party leader who described it as a war crime, but the criticism came from outside of parliament.
Australia’s military commitment to Iraq is largely symbolic but the polls show 2 out 3 Australians want the Australian force pulled out. All told however the issue probably does not rank high with voters and is unlikely to be an election winner or loser. Australia has troop deployments in Afghanistan, East Timor and the Solomon Islands. The Labor Party is not disputing those deployments and their leader Kim Beazley often describes the conflict on the Afghanistan/Pakistan border as ‘the real war on terrorism.’”
