Alexander Downer (Mayo, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, he says. But the Iraq Study Group said that it could support a surge. So the Labor Party says it supports the Iraq Study Group; the Iraq Study Group said ‘we could ... support a short-term redeployment or surge of American combat forces to stabilise Baghdad’. So when the Labor Party, in particular the Leader of the Opposition, desperately trying to find populist positions, starts flailing around on a national security issue, he is exposed, as he has always been exposed on national security issues, for being an opportunist and not a deep policy thinker.

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