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

I think all of my colleagues bring common sense into the parliament. That is my view about the member for Moore. This morning I have been caught rather more by some remarks made by somebody else—namely, the Leader of the Opposition. It is very important that everybody listens to this. The Leader of the Opposition was twice asked this morning on News Radio by Marius Benson what he thought would be the consequences of an American withdrawal from Iraq. It was hardly an irrelevant question. The debate of the last 72 hours has been all about the future of Iraq and the consequences of an American withdrawal. He was asked by Marius Benson the very direct question:

If the United States did withdraw all its troops from Iraq—

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