 London -- Monday February 12, 2007
Boost for Obama from AustraliaEwen MacAskill in Washington
Barack Obama speaking at the University of Illinois in Chicago. Photograph: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty
Barack Obama, one of the leading Democratic candidates for next year's presidential race, received an early and unexpected boost yesterday when the Australian prime minister, John Howard, criticised his anti-war stance.
The attack by the close ally of President George Bush and vocal supporter of the war in Iraq, came just hours after Mr Obama formally announced in Springfield, Illinois, that he would seek the Democratic nomination.
Breaking the convention that foreign leaders do not interfere in domestic political campaigns, Mr Howard rounded on Mr Obama, who is strongly opposed to the war in Iraq, for demanding that all US troops leave Iraq by March 31 next year.
Mr Howard said: "I think that will just encourage those who want to completely destabilise and destroy Iraq, and create chaos and a victory for the terrorists to hang on and hope for an Obama victory," Mr Howard said in a television interview. "If I were running al-Qaida in Iraq, I would put a circle around March 2008 and be praying ... for a victory, not only for Obama but also for the Democrats."
The Illinois senator is a frontrunner, along with Hillary Clinton, for the Democratic nomination. Although Mrs Clinton has a more established team and has already raised $14m (£7.1m) in funds, Mr Obama has a reputation as the more exciting. He has attracted experienced campaigners to his team and is expected to match Mrs Clinton in fundraising.
Mr Howard's intervention helps Mr Obama by highlighting his opposition to the war, in contrast to Mrs Clinton, who voted for it in the Senate in 2002 but now distances herself from it. Democratic activists are strongly opposed to the war. Mr Obama, 45, will also be helped by American irritation that a foreign leader should intervene in their election.
Robert Gibbs, Mr Obama's press secretary, said Mr Howard was not in a position to be overly critical. "If prime minister Howard truly believes what he says, perhaps his country should find its way to contribute more than just 1,400 troops so some American troops can come home. It's easy to talk tough when it's not your country or your troops making the sacrifice." ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 Pakistan -- February 13, 2007 Tuesday Muharram 24, 1428
Howard faces storm over criticism of Obama
SYDNEY: Australian Prime Minister John Howard found himself at the centre of a political storm on Monday after criticising US presidential hopeful Barack Obama over his plans to pull troops from Iraq.
The conservative leader earned a stinging rebuke from the popular Democratic senator and other US politicians, and faced a censure motion by the opposition in his own parliament. Howard, a close ally of US President George W Bush, sparked the dispute on Sunday when he said Obama’s plan to get US troops out of Iraq by March 31 next year would seal a US defeat and be welcomed as a victory by terrorists.
“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,” Howard told commercial television.
The Democratic Party’s bright new hope reacted sharply to Howard’s comments, scornfully suggesting that if the Australian leader was so keen on the Iraq war he should send in more troops.
“We have close to 140,000 troops on the ground now, and my understanding is Mr Howard has deployed 1,400, so if he is (ready) to fight the good fight in Iraq, I would suggest that he calls up another 20,000 Australians and sends them to Iraq. “Otherwise it’s just a bunch of empty rhetoric,” Obama, 45, told reporters.
The 67-year-old Howard, who has been in power for nearly 11 years, fired back on Monday, saying the Australian deployment was a “very significant and appropriate contribution” given the country’s population of just 20 million. “I think the most interesting thing about (Obama’s comments) is that it didn’t really address the substance of the issue,” Howard told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
But during question time in parliament later, Howard was given a rough ride by the new Labor Party opposition leader Kevin Rudd, who said his comments had endangered the future of Australia’s alliance with the US.
Rudd charged that Howard had accused the Democratic Party in the US of being “the terrorists’ party of choice.” Pointing out that the Democrats control the US Congress and could win the White House next year, Rudd described Howard’s comments as “a grave mistake” and called on him to withdraw them.
When Howard refused, Rudd moved a motion to censure the prime minister, launching a major attack on his Iraq policy as “the greatest single foreign policy and national security disaster this country has seen since Vietnam.”
Howard’s Liberal-National coalition has a strong majority in parliament and the motion was defeated by 82 votes to 60, but not before the veteran leader was made to look unusually uncomfortable and defensive.
“I was not generically attacking the Democrats, but the last time I checked, Senator Obama was a member of the Democratic Party of the United States,” he said. “I don’t apologise for criticising Senator Obama’s observation because I thought what he said was wrong.
“If America is defeated in Iraq, the consequences for the West will be catastrophic.” Howard’s discomfort was worsened by reports in local media that his remarks had been dismissed by Democrats in the US as “bizarre” and that even some Republican senators had criticised him for interfering in US domestic affairs.
The grilling in parliament also came just hours after the latest opinion poll showed that Rudd has overtaken Howard as the preferred prime minister. Rudd has breathed new life into the left-of-centre opposition since he was installed in December as Labor’s candidate to face off against Howard in elections due by the end of the year. Howard will be standing for his fifth term.
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