Coalition "Weak" On Iraq

Who'd have thought that Labor would find themselves in a position to call the coalition "weak" on Iraq. But now you have it:

'LABOR has accused the Howard Government of delivering a weak and poll-motivated warning to the Iraqi regime over its failure to end sectarian violence and political deadlock.'

'Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Robert McClelland said yesterday John Howard's warnings, delivered to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in a letter two weeks ago, were shallow because they contained no threat of withdrawing troops from the country if Baghdad did not deliver on its promises. '

Of course the coalition have pulled a bit of an about face on this issue after sensing all of a sudden that the war may be unpopular within the electorate, and that means nasty stuff in an election year. The fabled letter sent to al-Maliki recently has left poor puffed-up Downer in a bit of a fix considering that his favourite pastime has been to lay into Labor for wanting to "cut and run":

'"What the Prime Minister's letter says, and what I said to Prime Minister Maliki, is look, you know, a number of governments have made a commitment to keep troops there and provide ongoing assistance in Iraq, but to be absolutely honest, and we know this only too well in Australia ... the public's patience is wearing pretty thin on this issue. "

From memory Alex, the public's patience was wearing thin on invasion day.

"And not that our governments are committed to just walking away from Iraq,"

Meaning, we're still tough and all that.

'but you will get people electing governments that do just want to walk away from Iraq."

Like those pussies over in Labor.

I love watching a politician wiggle.

I actually agree with what the PM's done, it's become pretty clear that more pressure needs to be applied on political figures within Iraq to settle disputes and move forward in governing the country. What I'm unsure about still is whether announcing a deadline for troop withdrawal is the best thing. I can certainly appreciate the argument in that this would apply the ultimate amount of pressure on the Iraqi government, but I can't see anything good coming from leaving Iraq to fester and I've so far not heard any predictions from those on the Left who advocate it, of what troop withdrawal may mean for Iraq's immediate security. This is, in my opinion, a large failing.