Australia PM stays firm on Iraq despite criticism

Canberra, Oct 19: Australian Prime Minister John Howard promised today to keep forces in Iraq until it could look after its own security, as close ally the United States considered new options for the troubled country.

Howard's promise came as Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani held talks with Australian ministers in Canberra.

Shahristani said Iraq wanted the international community to support the ongoing campaign against insurgents in his country.

Australia, one of the first countries to commit forces to the US-led war to oust Saddam Hussein, has about 1,400 troops in and around Iraq and has steadfastly refused to set a time limit on the deployment.

''The policy of the government is not to hand Iraq over to terrorists, and more importantly, not to hand the terrorists an enormous propaganda victory,'' Howard told parliament.

Howard said he ''regretted'' decisions by Italy and Japan to withdraw their forces from Iraq and said it was crucial for troops to remain until Iraq could take care of its own security.

Shahristani said he expected Iraq would be able to take responsibility for its own security by 2008.

''Almost half of the country now is totally under control of Iraqi forces and we are planning, by the end of 2007 or perhaps 2008, to have sufficient trained and equipped Iraqi forces to take over responsibility,'' he told reporters.

US President George W. Bush has said he was keen to see options for Iraq from long-time family friend and former secretary of state James Baker, who heads a bipartisan commission that has been researching and preparing ideas for changing course in Iraq.

Bush has said he was willing to be flexible, although the US would not ''cut and run''.

With opinion polls showing Howard's conservative government struggling midway through its fourth term, the centre-left Labour opposition has renewed its attacks on him over Iraq.

Labour leader Kim Beazley has said he would withdraw troops from Iraq if he wins the next election, due in late 2007, and has accused Howard of making Australia a bigger target for militant groups.

''Everybody in the world knows, the United States administration knows, that the coalition's strategy in Iraq has failed,'' Beazley told parliament.

''The only thing this prime minister can do, in the middle of the deep hole he finds himself ... is to keep digging.''

Reuters