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

The debate here in Australia over the last two days has centrally been about what would happen in Iraq if coalition forces were withdrawn, what would happen to the cause of terrorism in the Middle East and what the security consequences for Australia would be.

We have the extraordinary situation where I am attacked because I have had the courage to express my views on the consequences of that. The Leader of the Opposition, in typical fashion, is trying to maintain an attack on us without having the courage to express his views as to what would happen if coalition forces were to withdraw in March next year. That is the central security issue. The reason the Leader of the Opposition is remaining silent is, I suspect, that he knows in his heart that the real answer to that question is the same as the one that I have given, and that is that Iraq would descend into chaos and terrorists around the world would be emboldened. The Leader of the Opposition was twice asked this morning, ‘What do you think will happen if coalition forces are withdrawn from Iraq in March 2008?’ and on both occasions the Leader of the Opposition did not have the courage to tell the Australian people what I have told the Australian people to be my belief. That is the central issue in this debate. It has got nothing to do with individuals in another election campaign; it has everything to do with the future of Iraq—

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