Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question again is to the Prime Minister and it refers to his answer to my previous question. How can the Prime Minister truthfully say in parliament today that he was not generically attacking the Democratic Party as a whole when he said:

If I were running al-Qaeda in Iraq, I would put a circle around March 2008 and be praying as many times as possible for a victory not only for Obama but also for the Democrats.

Prime Minister, can you explain how this statement about the Democratic Party, which holds a majority in both houses of the United States congress, serves the Australian national interest in any way whatsoever?

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

I think any statement by a leading political figure in Australia that expresses a concern about the consequences of a policy position for the security interests of this country is both legitimate and in the national interest. I remind the Leader of the Opposition that my starting point on this is that an American defeat in Iraq would be a catastrophe for the West. That is what is involved here, not his ego or my ego or the ego of George Bush or Barack Obama. What is involved here are the consequences for the West of an American defeat in Iraq. That is what we have to focus our minds on.

Honourable Member:

Honourable member interjecting—

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

I heard somebody saying, ‘Already it’s happened.’ I picked that up. Let me say it again and slowly so the Leader of the Opposition takes it in. It will be a catastrophe for the West if America is defeated in Iraq and, if America pulls out her combat brigades by March 2008, which is the gist of the Obama bill before the congress, that will be seen around the world as a defeat for the United States in Iraq. If you disbelieve me read that national intelligence assessment.

Finally, in relation to the Democrats, I remind the Leader of the Opposition that in the years I have been Prime Minister I have worked very closely with both Democrat and Republican presidents. I would also remind the House that the first occasion as Prime Minister that I was responsible for sending Australian forces to the Iraq theatre was in fact in response to a request from the Democrat President Bill Clinton.