John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Our policy is not to withdraw coalition forces in circumstances of defeat—that is the policy of the Australian Labor Party. I want to remind everybody who sits opposite that if the United States withdraws from Iraq, which they are effectively advocating, in circumstances of defeat, not only will that do enormous damage to American prestige in the Middle East and around the world, with great adverse consequences for Australia, but also it will create a great deal of additional instability—

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