For certain Republicans, the PM obliges

[cal04]

(snip)
John Howard announced on Thursday that our troops would be moving to an American base near the devastated and dangerous city of Nasiriyah, in a high-risk role that could involve combat against the insurgents. Parroting the George Bush mantra, he said our forces would "only leave when the job is finished".

What job, exactly? All we ever get from the White House and Canberra is platitudes about liberty and justice, with earnest assurances - despite all the evidence - that we are approaching a tipping point, or a new beginning, or whatever the latest spin might be. If the job is to crush the terrorist insurgency it has been an abject failure, as some of us predicted from the beginning, despite the all-knowing wisdom of the conservative cheer squad.

A cynic might suspect another motive for keeping our troops there. The US is in the throes of a fierce campaign for the November congressional mid-term elections which, despite the divisions in the Democratic Party, could well see the Republicans routed.

Our military presence in Iraq is minuscule compared to the Americans and even the British but, as John Howard's flatulent welcome to Washington demonstrated last month, it is of great symbolic importance to the Administration. An Australian withdrawal from the famous coalition of the willing before those congressional elections would be another blow to Bush's plunging credibility. Howard well understands that. Let's hope our diggers do, too.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/for-certain-republicans-the-pm-obliges/2006/06/23/1150845377387.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

[acmavm]

1. Howard's hanging tight so that he can get in on the split up of the oil

fields mainly.

They all are.